‘Greenwashing’ by other industries creates opportunities for social landlords, sector told

There were some agreement that it was the sector’s values that would allow it to stand out against claims of greenwashing, but it was argued work needed to be done to tell the sector’s wider ESG story and communicate its impact more effectively. 

Mr Sarsfield said: “I think our stories can improve and we can be more honest about greenwashing. I also think greenwashing creates an opportunity for the sector, because we have a great story and we have great values. As long as we don’t cock that up and as long as we can say, ‘come into our sector and invest in our sector because it’s a safe place.’”

Mr Jenkins said he “got the point” about the fear of greenwashing, but that meant that the sector just needs to “up its game in terms of communicating effectively”.

Since he was made chair of the SfH board in April last year, Mr Sarsfield has been responsible for promoting and embedding the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing, which aims to attract more ESG funding to the sector. 

The standard was launched last year by The Good Economy and a group of housing associations. It has since received backing from more than 100 landlords and investors. 

Mr Sarsfield said: “I see us on a journey of evolving standards, with not just the definition of ESG tightening, but what we mustn’t forget is the fundamental reason why it [SfH] came in, is because of global warming and pressure from shareholders.” 

He also said that he thought consumer behaviour and the power of social media was having an effect on the behaviour of lenders.

The panel also discussed the importance of setting measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) in sustainability-linked bonds to help avoid accusations of greenwashing.

Mr Jenkins said: “A fully linked bond has KPIs embedded within it. They are specific, they’re ambitious, they’re stretching targets, which are aligned to your strategy but also to the UN SDG [Sustainable Development Goals]. Are you building more EPC [energy performance certificate rated] C homes? Are you helping in a social regard in terms of internships or homelessness? They have very specific measured targets over a time bound frame.”

One delegate asked how ESG can be moved away from being just a financial term to being embedded right across an organisation.

Ms Costain said: “When we started doing this it was driven by corporate finance because it was something that we were trying to move towards with a listing and having a sustainable finance framework.”

Stonewater issued its first £250n sustainability bond in September last year. Since then, Ms Costain said it has become a natural progression to work across the whole association and look at other areas such as procurement.