Our commitment to environmental sustainability is at the heart of our Environmental Social and Governance strategy. At YBS, we are committed to high environmental standards that support us to deliver our purpose of Real Help with Real Life.

Our Climate Commitments

Our climate strategy aims to reduce the environmental impact of our business. This aligns with our goal to help customers find a place to call home. 

We have 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 environmental impact and become a more sustainable business - to do this we’re:
  • Investing in efficient resource use
  • Seeking to understand and measure the impact of our wider value chain
  • Engaging with colleagues to support becoming a more sustainable business.
In 2022 we reduced our carbon footprint by 79%. Since 2012 we’ve seen a 96% reduction. We know there is still more we can do to reduce this.
A full breakdown of our emissions can be found on page 129 in our Annual Report Accounts 2022.
Our Operational Footprint1 20122 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 20213 2022
Scope 1 (tCO2e) 1,662 1,480 1,315 1,290 1,233 1,133 1,235 1,029 1,6134 1,309 8
Scope 2 (tCO2e) 7,868 8,076 8,439 - - - - - - - -
Scope 35 (tCO2e) 2,264 2,877 3,009 2,811 2,318 2,367 1,932 1,598 1,094 645 408
Total (tCO2e) 11,794 12,433 12,763 4,101 3,551 3,500 3,167 2,627 2,707 1,954 416
1. YBS uses the market-based methodology to report its carbon emissions however you can find our location-based carbon footprint within the Directors’ Report of the Annual Reporting Accounts 2022. 
2. To set the carbon reduction benchmark, the pre-2019 carbon footprint figures have been updated to include current modelled Scope 3 data. All previously reported carbon emissions have increased as a result of this exercise.
3.  2021’s carbon footprint has been updated to include actuals figures rather than the estimates for final month/quarter amounts included in the 2021 disclosures. Calculations were also altered reflect the 2022 carbon footprint’s calculation methodologies. See SECR in the Director’s Report in the Annual Reporting Accounts 2022 for more information.
4.  2020 scope 1 emissions were higher due to the additional ventilation and heating requirements of making our offices and branches COVID-safe.
5.  You can find a full breakdown of scope 3 emissions within the within the SECR section of the Directors’ Report in the Annual Reporting Accounts 2022. 
Graph showing the decrease in carbon footprint between 2012 and 2022
We’re committed to achieving net zero on operational Scope 3 emissions by 2050. We’re looking into ways that we can reduce our emissions in relation to our commercial and residential lending.

We aim to produce information that’s useful to our stakeholders, such as our current scope 3 emission disclosures. We’re committed to achieving full disclosure by 2025.

Climate Governance

The YBS Board is accountable for all climate change risks and opportunities.

The Board meets regularly and is supported through the existing governance structure, which manages climate change risk on a day-to-day basis. We update the Board and its sub-committees regularly on the Society’s progress against our climate commitments and on the measurement of climate risk.
Text says YBS BOARD Ultimate accountability for financial risks of climate change and associated responsibilities. Regular updates and training are provided to support oversight. The Board is supported in its role where appropriate by its Committees and the Society's Management Committees, including: GROUP RISK COMMITTEE Climate Risk Oversight. Including Risk appetite AUDIT COMMITTEE Non-financial disclosure in relation to environment, social and governance agenda EXECUTIVE RISK COMMITTEE Management of the governance framework for the climate risk agenda EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Oversight of implementation of environmental strategy and approval of climate risk matters for recommendation to the Board ASSET AND LIABILITY COMMITTEE Focus on financial risks arising from climate change ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE Delegated authority from the Executive Committee to support the Board in overseeing the delivery of the ESG strategy
In 2020, climate change and environment governance roles were added to our senior manager function accountability documents to ensure there’s clear ownership of accountabilities and responsibilities throughout the business. Currently these are shared between our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer.

To find out more, have a look at our latest Annual Reporting Accounts and Environmental and Climate Change Risk Policy.
 

Helping customers move to Net Zero

To help our customers move to net zero and improve the energy efficiency of their homes, we’re creating a customer net zero plan.  
 
We started this journey with the launch of two Energy related products in 2022 – an Energy Saving Awareness Bond and an Energy Related Additional Loan. We’ve also partnered with the Energy Savings Trust to help our customers learn how to save energy using an easy-to-use online Energy Saving Tool.

Partnerships

YBS joined the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission (YHCC) in 2021. The YHCC’s aim is to help the region quickly reduce its carbon emissions, by bringing together a team of climate leaders from across the public, private and third sector. This will help people in Yorkshire cope with the physical and transition risks related to climate change and encourage inclusive climate actions.
 
YBS also continue to support the Leeds Climate Commission.