Land Securities pledges 100% renewable energy by April 2016
Land Securities, the largest commercial property development and investment company in the UK, has committed to producing 100% renewable energy by April 2016, as part of the RE100 initiative. The company has signed a new energy supply contract with Smartest Energy, which will provide all of its buildings from April 2016. 37 companies have now signed up to the RE100 initiative and ﻿Land Securities is the second real estate company to join the campaign.

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Land Securities, one of the developers of London’s sustainable Walkie Talkie skyscraper, made the announcement on Wednesday (7 October) as part of a new commitment to the RE100 initiative which supports business going 100% renewable.

Land Securities has signed a new electricity supply contract with Smartest Energy which will provide 100% renewable electricity to all of its buildings as of April 2016. The company also said it is exploring the possibility of fitting photovoltaics at its retail sites, in the hope of reducing its dependence on the grid and making long-term savings.

The property developer joins 36 other companies it the RE100 initiative which was launched just least year.

Land Securities’ head of sustainability Caroline Hill wrote in a blog: “We believe it is important for business leaders to show support for a global agreement in Paris and to demonstrate our commitment to working with others in our sector to transition to a low carbon world.”

In today’s #LSblog our head of sustainability announces our commitments to take action on climate change: http://t.co/DXqfZXFQjx — Land Securities (@LandSecurities) October 7, 2015

As part of today’s commitments, we are pledging to procure 100% of electricity from renewable sources #RE100 — Land Securities (@LandSecurities) October 7, 2015

Land Securities’ transition to renewable electricity is matched by efforts to reduce energy consumption across all of its sites. In 2014, it became the only large property company to have met the requirements for the ISO50001 energy management standard and has seen an 8% reduction in energy requirements from a 2013/2014 baseline.

Earlier this year, it slashed its number of environmental targets from 15 to five, claiming the simplification will help it “move beyond CR to being a fully sustainable business”.

Land Securities is the second real estate company to join RE100, after Germany-based Alstria.

A statement from RE100 said: “The impact of these large property businesses committing to the campaign holds great potential as they are in a position to lead by example and aid their tenants’ transition towards becoming ‘100% renewable’, thereby bringing further influential brands to RE100 and showcasing the strong business case for renewables.”

Thirty seven companies have now joined RE100. They are: Alstria, Autodesk, BT Group, Commerzbank, DSM, Elion Resources Group, Formula E, Givaudan, Goldman Sachs, H&M, IKEA Group, Infosys, J. Safra Sarasin, Johnson & Johnson, Kingspan, KPN, Land Securities, Marks & Spencer, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, Nike, Inc., Philips, Procter & Gamble, Proximus, RELX Group, Salesforce, SAP, SGS,Starbucks, Steelcase, Swiss RE, UBS, Unilever, Vaisala, Voya Financial,Walmart and YOOX Group.

Brad Allen