Creating our greener future: our new operational climate pledges

Tackling the climate crisis remains a priority for Lloyds Banking Group as part of our strategy to Help Britain Recover. In 2020, we set ourselves an ambitious goal to accelerate working with customers, government and the market to help reduce the carbon emissions we finance by more than 50% by 2030. This pledge also sets us on the path to net zero by 2050 or sooner. 

Reducing the carbon footprint of our own operations is an important foundational element of our sustainability strategy. These emissions relate to the buildings we work from and the travel we do to get to work, see our colleagues and meet our customers. This year we have announced three updated operational climate pledges, in addition to our existing waste and water reduction targets, which will accelerate our plan to tackle climate change:
 

Over the past 18 months we have worked closely with our partners and supply chain to define a clear and detailed plan to achieve these goals. We know it won’t be easy, but we have put the groundwork in and crucially, we have support across our organisation to secure the investment needed and deliver the behaviour change required. We will need to invest in our buildings over the next decade, creating low carbon offices and branches in communities across the UK, and delivering our strategic goal of Helping Britain Recover from the pandemic. 

Net zero carbon operations by 2030

(reducing our Scope 1 & 2 emissions by at least 75% compared to 2018/2019 levels)

• We will eliminate the use of natural gas in our buildings by 2030, replacing gas boilers with low carbon heating solutions such as heat pumps. 
• We’ll continue to buy 100% renewable electricity across our global operations. 
• We will improve our air conditioning systems, switching to more energy efficient models using less harmful refrigerant gases. We expect to have some refrigerant emissions remaining in 2030, and we will offset these using certified carbon removals.
• Having already closed our managers’ company car scheme in 2019, we now provide Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) as standard for colleagues who require a car to perform their job. By 2030 all our vehicles will be electric.
• Our strategy is to focus our investment on reducing emissions within our own direct control as aggressively as possible, rather than reducing them at a slower rate and paying for carbon offsetting from the start (an approach sometimes referred to as being ‘carbon negative’ or ‘climate positive’). 
  

Halve energy consumption by 2030 (compared to 2018/2019 levels)

• Whilst we already procure renewable electricity, it remains crucial that we retain a focus on reducing our electricity consumption.
• We will accelerate our investment in energy efficiency, installing LED lighting in our branches and offices as well as replacing and improving building management systems.
• Our energy managers will continue to deliver our energy optimisation programme.
  

Halve travel emissions (maintain a 50% reduction in travel emissions compared to pre-Covid-19 2018/2019 levels)

• We will embed for the long term the reduced levels of commuting and business travel emissions seen during the pandemic, meaning that each and every one of our colleagues will need to play a part in reducing both the frequency and the carbon intensity of their commuting and business travel trips as we develop new ways of working after the pandemic.
• We have launched a carbon footprint calculator to support our colleagues to explore the environmental impact of their travel choices and will provide offers and engagement programmes to help them switch to greener modes of travel.
• We will embed new ways of working developed during the pandemic, building a new mindset around business travel where colleagues travel with purpose, to connect and collaborate. 
• We will continue to disclose our home-working related carbon emissions, measuring the full impact of our new ways of working and balancing this against our reduced travel emissions. We’ll do this on an annual basis, using the methodology published in the White Paper we sponsored in October 2020.
• We will continue with our programme of work to improve cycling facilities for colleagues, seeking Cycle Friendly Employer accreditation from Cycling UK at each of our main offices.  
• We will launch a new Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) salary sacrifice scheme for colleagues and continue with the rollout of electric vehicle charging points across our car parks. 

Many of the technologies we will need to use to achieve our goals are still new, and we will work closely with our supply chain to innovate. We know we can only achieve our ambitions by working alongside our partners, including The Climate Group, The Carbon Trust and the UK Green Building Council. The World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment underpins our new pledges, along with the commitments we’ve already made by joining The Climate Group’s campaigns on renewable electricity (RE100), energy productivity (EP100) and electric vehicles (EV100). 
 

Glossary

Scope 1 carbon emissionsare emissions which are produced directly from the fuels we burn. For us, this covers the natural gas used in our boilers to heat our branches, offices and data centres, the refrigerant gases used in our air conditioning systems, and the small amount of oil used in our back-up generators. It also includes the exhaust emissions from the cars and mobile branches we own. 

Scope 2 carbon emissions are emissions which produce the electricity we consume in our buildings. We measure them using the ‘market based’ approach, which means we calculate them according to the type of electricity that we buy. Because we use 100% renewable electricity across our global operations, our Scope 2 emissions are reduced to zero.