At YBS we're committed to reducing the environmental impact of our business. Our climate ambitions support our purpose of Helping Real Life Happen.

Our 10 climate commitments 

1
Achieve Net Zero scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 2035 and Net Zero scope 3 operational emissions by 2050.
2
Maintain a 100% renewable operational energy supply in line with RE100 requirements. YBS will move towards non-burning green energy and install heat pump systems in all properties where this is feasible. 
3
Add only hybrid or electric vehicles to our fleet from 2025, working towards a full electric fleet as soon as operationally possible.
4
Improve climate change resilience across all areas.
5
Target and maintain a minimum annual landfill diversion rate of 97%.
6
Implement further policies to prevent lending or investing in economic sectors that have a heightened climate risk and/or are environmentally damaging.
7
Launch a customer Net Zero transition plan, increase understanding of our financed emissions, and support our customers with their Net Zero transition.
8
Support customers to make better environmental choices by helping them understand climate change and how it impacts housing.
9
Launch a member-focused Net Zero transition plan, which will include green savings product initiatives.
10
Continue to align our Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures with best practice and create a platform on YBS’s website to showcase our progress and future plans on climate thinking

Our carbon footprint

We’re working hard to reduce our impact on the environment and become more sustainable. 

We’re doing this by: 
Understanding and measuring the impact of our business. 
Working with colleagues.
Partnering with the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission to support local change. 

Our carbon emissions for 2022 and 2023

2023 location based emissions (tCO2e) 2022 location based emissions (tCO2e)
Scope 1  Direct emissions from our own operations and assets we directly control or own, such as gas usage. 733 949
Scope 2  Indirect emissions linked to the purchase of electricity in our operations. 1,740 1,582
Scope 3  Indirect emissions from sources not owned or controlled by us but are part of our value chain.

This includes employee commuting and waste generation.		 4,707

3,648 tCO2e of this is from employee homeworking and commuting. We’ve included these activities in our report for the first time in 2023.		 947

This figure doesn’t include employee homeworking and commuting.
Total 7,180 3,478
Our market-based emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 are just 5 tCO2e, as the energy we use comes from renewable sources. 
Scope 3 has increased as we now include homeworking and commuting. More colleagues also returned to the office or travelled on business in 2023, compared to the years affected by COVID.
We expect our carbon footprint to increase over the next few years. This is because we’re improving how we collect data and report on it. 
A full breakdown of our emissions is on pages 130 – 133 of our 2023 Annual Report and Accounts. 

Our commitment to achieving Net Zero 

By 2035, we want to achieve Net Zero in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
By 2050, we have an ambition to achieve Net Zero on our Scope 3 operational emissions and financed emissions. To reduce financed emissions, we’re exploring how we can help our customers decarbonise their homes.
We can’t reach Net Zero on our own. We’ve partnered with the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission to support local change.  
We’re also part of the Building Societies Association Green Finance Taskforce.

Climate governance

Our Board is accountable for all climate change risks and opportunities, supported by sub-committees. 
The Group Risk Committee decide how much climate risk the Group will accept.
The Audit Committee manage the non-financial reporting of our environment, social and governance strategy. 
The Executive Committee oversee how we implement our environmental strategy and decide which climate risks to take to the board.
The Executive Risk Committee manage our governance framework for climate risk.  
The Asset and Liability Committee focus on the financial risks of climate change.  
The Environment, Social and Governance Committee support the board in overseeing the environmental strategy. It’s chaired by the Society’s Chief Executive. 
They’re supported by these groups:
The Environmental Sustainability steering group brings together directors and senior leaders to challenge and review the approach to delivering our climate strategy.
The Climate Risk working group focuses on reducing our financed emissions and exposure to physical risk. They also look at our lending policies and new products.
We also work closely with our property and procurement teams, to see how we can reduce our energy use, waste and supply chain emissions.  

Helping customers save energy and move to Net Zero

In 2022 we launched an Energy Related Additional Loan.  
We also partnered with the Energy Savings Trust. Customers can visit our energy savings website and use an Energy Saving Tool.
Customers might be able to get a government grant to help make their homes more energy efficient.