RBS & Landsec Become World’s First Members Of RE100, EV100, & EP100

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British companies RBS (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) and Landsec have this week increased their corporate climate leadership positions, becoming the world’s first companies to become members of all three corporate leadership initiatives of The Climate Group — RE100, EV100, and EP100.

Both RBS and Landsec were already members of The Climate Group’s RE100 initiative, run in partnership with CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), bringing together corporations with targets to increase their renewable energy use to 100%. Landsec is already consuming 95% of its electricity from renewable energy sources, while RBS is 75% of the way towards its 100% by 2025 goal (which includes a 90% interim target by 2020), and has already achieved 100% renewable levels in the UK and Ireland.

Announced on Wednesday, both RBS and Landsec increased their corporate climate leadership positions, joining The Climate Group’s initiative for electric vehicles (EV100) and for energy productivity (EP100).

RBS announced on Wednesday that it will switch 300 vehicles to electric and further encourage staff uptake of electric vehicles by increasing the number of electric vehicle charge points it offers from the 12 currently in place to over 450 by 2025 and over 600 by 2030. RBS also committed to improving its energy productivity by 40% by 2025 against a 2015 baseline.

“At RBS, we recognise the urgency of action around climate change and managing our own footprint is a significant aspect of that,” said Laura Barlow, Sustainable Energy Sponsor and Head of Large Corporates and Institutions, RBS. “Through procuring 100% renewable electricity, improving our energy productivity and decarbonising transportation we are able to contribute to global efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.

“We are pleased to be able to show leadership in becoming one of the first organisations to commit to all three of The Climate Group’s campaigns and encourage our customers and colleagues to make the same transition towards a low carbon economy.”

RBS has already upgraded 103 Building Management Systems (BMS) which are reporting 18% in annual energy savings at its data centers through reducing IT loads, a new data hall, new chiller systems, and technology to help identify and reduce inefficiencies.

“We are committed to reducing our environmental impact of serving our customers,” added Fiona Walmsley, Head of Property Services, RBS. “By signing up to all three Climate Group initiatives, we are strengthening our commitment to the environment and further aligning our targets and goals set out by Paris Agreement and the UK government’s climate goals. We are proud to be the first bank and joint first organisation globally to show leadership in climate action with these commitments”.

Landsec, one of the largest commercial property development and investment companies in the UK, similarly announced moves which paved the way for joining both EV100 and EP100, including a plan to increase the number of EV charge points across its portfolio to over 300 by the end of the year, and committing to doubling its energy productivity within 20 years based on a 2014 baseline.

“Landsec is pleased to announce our ambitions to drive up electric vehicle charging infrastructure in support of our commitment to acting on climate change,” explained Caroline Hill, Head of Sustainability and Public Affairs, Landsec. “We understand that more and more of our customers are opting to drive electric vehicles and we want to ensure they have the opportunity to charge when visiting a Landsec asset.

“We are also delighted to be named as one of the first companies to join all three of The Climate Group’s business initiatives, following our previous commitments to procuring 100% renewable power and doubling our energy productivity.”

“Congratulations to RBS and Landsec on showing it is already possible for the private sector to go further and faster in driving the clean energy transition,” added Mike Peirce, Corporate Partnerships Director, The Climate Group. “To keep to a world of no more than 1.5°C of warming we need major companies everywhere to seize the opportunities presented by cleaner, smarter energy. As climate change increasingly poses a threat to our economy and more importantly human lives, this is what now defines corporate leadership.”