Housebuilder Vistry ties bosses pay to carbon cutting efforts
Housebuilder Vistry has confirmed it will link its executives pay to sustainability targets from next year onwards, amid the UK’s push for net zero.
The new practice appears a tangible effort to make the carbon-heavy construction and housebuilding sector more sustainable, ahead of the UN’s flagship climate conference COP26 in November.
While bosses have been incentivised to push for greener routes, the company has also said it will hand over its first net-zero carbon homes this year, which it hopes to become the standard by 2030.
The homes been fitted with improved insulation, air source heat pumps, solar PV panels and ventilation with heat recovery technology.
The housebuilder added that carbon emissions that come from the any part of the construction process will eventually be zero.
Slashing carbon production levels throughout the housing construction industry is crucial to meeting the UK’s net zero target of 2050, as well as ensuring global climate increases do not go past 1.5 degrees, as per the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Ahead of its seat at the helm of COP26, the UK government has tried to tempt businesses into making their practices more sustainable with the lure of lucrative government contracts.
In June, the government announced new measures that would stop businesses without “credible carbon reduction plans” from bidding for major government contracts.
“As the world looks towards the UK and COP26 for leadership on decarbonisation, business is already playing a vital role in driving progress towards a greener future,” director of infrastructure and energy and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Tom Thackray, said in a statement at the time.
“These changes will encourage more firms across the country to demonstrate their own commitment to net zero when bidding for government contracts.”