As we end another year in the grip of the Coronavirus crisis, it can be hard to remain positive. However, I believe there is much to be hopeful for in the new year.
This year has been our 20th operating year as a business and I’m so proud of everything we have achieved in that time. As we enter a new decade of business, ES will have a strong focus on impact – as a business and as an industry.
As part of our new impact initiatives, we have been working with Ecologi. So far, we have planted 20,630 trees and in November, ES became a Climate Positive Workforce with 44.14 certified tonnes CO2 reduced. As we do every year, we have also made Christmas donations to several charities among which Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation, Rettet den Regenwald e. V. (Save the Rainforest), and Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk e. V. (German Children’s Charity).
My hopes for 2022:
A happy, healthy team: I realise that the pandemic has hit everyone hard and required so much from the team. In January, we will put out a staff wellbeing survey, to make sure that everyone is getting the support that they need. This survey will also inform our internal communications and initiatives for the coming year as well as development of a broader staff benefits package.
Support our clients to make an impact: This year, we have seen our clients old and new really step up their work on ESG. With many more policies and regulations coming into force over the next few years as we chase those net zero goals, we understand that they look to us for support and guidance. We believe that the industry has the capability and capacity to have a huge impact on carbon reduction, and we will be pushing our clients to realise bigger goals and ambitions.
Educate the industry: There is much changing for the industry right now and it can be hard to know where to start, let alone keep up with the changing political and regulatory landscape. This year, we aim to publish educational content around these topics (and others) to support and educate the real estate industry; e. g. EU Taxonomy and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), ESG reporting, biodiversity, health & wellbeing, circular economy and decarbonisation.
Continue to #tacklethecrisis: As a business, we believe in living our values. We will continue to be a voice of positive climate news, and support as much climate action as possible. This will include our continued support of Fridays for Future and the climate strikes and increasing our work with Ecologi and other initiatives dedicated to positive climate action.
Once again, thanks to the ES team for continuing to deliver excellent service to our clients at an extremely busy and unprecedented time. To our clients, partners and the industry, we look forward to working together in 2022 to have some real climate impact.
