At Blackwood, we recognise that good management of ESG issues is essential to our organisational success, and we saw the value in adopting a sector-supported reporting standard that would assist us in identifying, managing, and communicating on ESG issues.

A major reason why we chose to adopt the SRS is that we are seeing increasing expectations from government, customers, employees, and local communities on important issues such as the environment, equality, diversity and inclusion, tenant satisfaction, and good governance.

For example, the Scottish Government’s ambition is to achieve net zero by 2045 and, as a result, housing associations are expected to meet stringent environmental standards, which will include the requirement that new build housing meets a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard.

We already report on many of these issues to our regulator, but reporting against the SRS criteria gives us the opportunity to communicate this information in a user-friendly way to all our stakeholders.

Our ESG reports communicate our values and our purpose, thus demonstrating to our employees what we are doing to reduce our environmental impacts and maintain our commitment to support and develop our staff.

Another reason for us to adopt the SRS is our organisation’s ambitious development strategy. We want to be in the best possible position when we go to the market to seek financing for new developments.

We understand that funders are required to report on the ESG profile of their investments, and we have started to develop the data and reporting systems to provide the information that will be required.

Thus our approach to ESG has been driven by the recognition that ESG issues are important to our success, and we want to communicate how we manage them to our employees, customers, and communities.

We focus on the key issues for Blackwood, and the SRS comply or explain approach allows us to prioritise the issues that really matter to our business success.

While ESG reporting has become highly complex, I believe the SRS provides an opportunity for the social housing sector to catch up and promote a sustainability reporting standard that accurately reflects our organisations’ work and material issues for our success in providing affordable housing.

Many corporate organisations have been doing ESG reporting for over two decades and these businesses, particularly those with significant environmental impacts, have developed highly sophisticated and complex data collection and reporting systems.

Moreover, investors in these sectors have developed complex analytical tools for this data, particularly in relation to carbon emissions.

But I believe it is unrealistic to expect the social housing sector to present a similar depth of data and analysis at this moment in time. The social housing sector needs time to catch up.

At the same time, I see the SRS as an opportunity for the sector to work together to develop understanding and expertise in data collection and reporting.

We are making a good start, and while we aren’t there yet, I am confident that the social housing sector will get there eventually.

It is important that others in the sector, who haven’t yet joined in recognise the value in working together to promote a sustainability reporting standard.

The standard should be based on an accurate understanding of how our organisations work and what is key to our success in providing affordable housing to a high standard.

By doing so, we can create a more sustainable future for all those who rely on social housing.