Developing a Carbon Management Plan for Salix Homes

Situation

Salix Homes is a social housing provider that owns and manages 8,500 homes in Greater Manchester.

Salix commissioned Anthesis to produce a carbon management plan for its business. This included an energy audit of its depot buildings, a calculation of its carbon footprint and identification and comparison of the different carbon reduction targets the company could set. This was proposed along with a portfolio of different measures, which enabled Anthesis to establish a roadmap for Salix to reduce its emissions.

Solution

The scope of the project was split into two main phases. The first phase involved carrying out a site audit at Salix’s depots to identify the energy saving opportunities available within its buildings. Identified opportunities were then summarised into an engineer’s report for Salix.

The second phase involved creating a carbon management plan by calculating Salix’s scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint, identifying the carbon reduction target options available to Salix and modelling potential carbon reduction measures against the targets, providing Salix with a roadmap towards decarbonisation.

Anthesis’ approach started with a kick-off meeting to collect the data necessary to calculate the Salix scope 1 to 3 footprint and arrange for the energy audit to take place. Update meetings were held every fortnight to answer any client queries and provide a general project update. Using the data, the total footprint was calculated, and the carbon reduction target options plotted. We also agreed the measures that could be modelled as part of Salix’s decarbonisation roadmap and modelled and plotted against a ‘Business as Usual’ curve to show the impact of proposed measures.

This process enabled Salix to understand its current progress on its decarbonisation journey and the action and commitments needed to progress. Further details were provided for each measure to provide Salix with an understanding of the options available to them for carbon reduction. This included insight into carbon offsetting and insetting. A list of next steps was provided to Salix to advise on how the company should proceed following this study.

Impact

The project has allowed Salix Homes to better understand what is required to decarbonise, particularly when aligning with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s strategy. The information provided enables the team to have more informed discussions with the authority and understand the building blocks needed to take the first steps towards decarbonisation.