Governance
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
As an AIM listed business, strong governance underpins the way Springfield operates. It helps ensure accountability, supports the delivery of our strategic objectives and enables us to identify and manage risks and opportunities across the business.
ESG Committee
An ESG Committee was formed in August 2022. The committee is chaired by the Chief Executive, meets quarterly and reports to the PLC Board. Our Non-Executive Director designated for ESG and Group Directors from Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ), Human Resources (HR) and Corporate Communications make up the membership.
The ESG Committee oversees delivery of our ESG objectives, reviewing progress and identifying risks and opportunities against the wider ESG strategy and supporting action plans. It feeds into our PLC Board through regular reporting and helps ensure environmental, social and governance considerations are embedded within decision making across the Group.
During the year, we further strengthened our ESG governance framework through the creation of an ESG Operational Committee. Established to broaden engagement across the business and drive continuous improvement, the committee brings together representatives from key operational functions to identify opportunities, share best practice and develop proposals before they are considered by the Board-level ESG Committee.
Operation responsibility for ESG objectives sits within relevant Group Directors, who are accountable for delivery within their areas of responsibility and report progress through the ESG committee and wider Governance structure.
Monitoring Performance
The committee monitors performance against a range of environmental and social indicators, help ensure progress against Springfield’s ESG objectives. These include:
- Waste diverted from landfill
- Average SAP rating for EPC
- Direct carbon emissions
- Biodiversity net gain
- Electric vehicles in fleet
- Homes with zero fossil fuels
- Customer satisfaction
- Employee training
- Apprenticeship number
- Accident Incidence Rate
Employee Engagement on ESG
Looking after people and the environment is embedded within our culture at Springfield. Regular communications help employees understand our ESG objectives, share examples of good practise and highlight progress across the business.
Employees are encouraged to contribute ideas and identify opportunities for innovation, help ensure ESG remains a practical consideration across all areas of the Group.
Our intranet is used to communicate related good news stories and to ensure progress against strategic ESG objectives filters through all levels of the business.
ESG reporting and transparency
Transparency is an important part of our approach to ESG. Alongside our Annual Report, we publish annual updates on out Environment and People strategy, reporting progress against objectives and outlining priorities for the year ahead.
Our ESG reporting helps stakeholders understand our performance, priorities and approach to continuous improvement across environmental, social and governance matters.
Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
We made our first TCFD-compliant disclosure within our 31 May 2023 Annual Report and Accounts, and continue to update this reporting annually. We disclosed the steps we have taken to incorporate climate-related risks and opportunities into our risk management and strategic planning processes.
Our disclosures explain how climate-related risks and opportunities are incorporated into governance, strategy, risk management and performance monitoring across the Group, covering the four pillars of governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets.
Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)
Each year we report our energy use and carbon emissions through SECR, with the results published in our Annual Report. We work with an external specialist to ensure the accuracy of our results which are audited as part of our annual reporting process.