We’ve recently announced an additional set of ambitious commitments to change the way we operate as a business and accelerate our plans to tackle climate change.

Our operational climate pledges

Our operations:
- Achieve net zero carbon operations by 2030 and reduce our direct carbon emissions by at least 75%.
- Maintain travel emissions below 50% of pre-COVID-19 levels.
- Reduce our total energy consumption by 50% by 2030.
- 100% renewable energy supply achieved.
- Reduce our operational waste by 80% by 2025.
- Reduce water consumption by 40% by 2030.

We will achieve net zero carbon operations by 2030

We plan to reduce our direct carbon emissions (known as Scope 1 and 2 emissions) by at least 90%.

We will reduce our total energy consumption by 50% by 2030

While we already use 100% renewable electricity, we still need to reduce the amount of power we consume overall to support the UK in meeting an increasing demand for renewable energy.

We will maintain travel emissions below 50% of 2018/19 levels

We want to embed the reduced levels of commuting and business travel emissions we saw during the pandemic – and support our colleagues to switch to low carbon modes of transport.

We will become water neutral by 2030

We are committed to reaching water-neutrality across our buildings by 2030. This will involve continuing to invest in water consumption reduction in our places as well as creating water reduction and conservation partnerships in the local community.

We will achieve zero waste by 2030

We plan to achieve zero waste by 2030 - This will involve diverting a minimum of 90% of our operational and technology waste from landfill and incineration, in line with the Zero Waste International Alliance definition. 

We also have a broader environmental ambition for our own operations, which continues to focus on reducing our operational waste by 80% by 2025, from a 2014/15 baseline.

We will bring nature closer to our people and places

We will take action to help achieve nature positive operations across our key green spaces, developing an operational pollinator strategy while also engaging our colleagues by bringing nature closer to our urban places through investment, partnerships, and events.

Our progress so far

We're making good progress against our targets. We’ve reduced our direct carbon emissions by 47.8% and our energy consumption is down 36.2% compared to our 2018/19 baselines.

In 2023, our travel emissions remained 51.3% below our 2018/19 baseline. 

We're also on track with our operational waste target, having already reduced our overall waste by 74.7%.

Achieving our goals won’t be easy, and we will need to invest in our buildings over the next decade. We will continue expanding our use of energy efficient technology, including LED lighting and improved building controls. We will remove all use of natural gas from our estate, replacing gas boilers with low carbon heating technologies and create more sustainable branches in communities across the UK. 

Additional information on all our climate pledges and our progress to date can be found in our 2023 Climate Report. 

 

Our work in action

Sustainable innovations in the built environment

Since 2018, we have worked in partnership with Wates Smartspace to promote the uptake of sustainable innovations in the built environment, helping accelerate the transition to net zero.

Read the case study

Net zero carbon operations at Lloyds Bank Oxford Street

In 2021 we refurbished our Lloyds Bank branch on London's Oxford Street to make it net zero carbon operations and create an immersive sustainability experience for our customers and colleagues.

Read the case study

Rewilding The Mound – green spaces at our Edinburgh office

We approached the Scottish Wildlife Trust for help in developing a site-specific habitat creation and management plan to enhance biodiversity at our main Edinburgh office. 

Read the case study

Reducing electricity and gas usage across our branches in 2022

As part of our operational climate targets, we are committed to halve our total energy consumption and achieve net zero emissions by 2030, versus a 2018/19 baseline’

Read the case study

Our partnerships

Many of the technologies we will need to achieve our operational emissions pledges are new, so we will work closely with our partners and supply chain to innovate and accelerate progress. We have built a strong network of like-minded partners to help us work towards our operational emissions goals. 

We are also members of the UK Green Buildings Council and have recently renewed our commitment to the World Green Building Council Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, which includes the new embodied carbon reduction requirement for new builds and major refurbishments by 2030.

This renewed commitment, along with those we’ve already made by joining The Climate Group’s campaigns on renewable electricity (RE100), energy productivity (EP100) and electric vehicles (EV100), underpins our climate pledges.

Logos for the UK Green Buildings Council; World Green Building Council; and the Climate Group's EP100, EV100 and RE100.

Our supply chain

We recognise the environmental impact of the Group's demand for goods and services and the importance of working collaboratively with our suppliers to tackle climate change in a way that is aligned with our purpose.

Through our Code of Supplier Responsibility we expect our suppliers to:

  • understand and mitigate the physical and transition risks that climate change poses to their business.
  • be working towards disclosing scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions and broader sustainability performance.
  • have a commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 (or sooner) and be working towards having near term science-aligned greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

We also encourage our suppliers to have climate change and a nature-positive approach embedded within their strategy and organisational governance.

The Emerald Standard

In 2022 we launched the Lloyds Banking Group Emerald Standard which, aligned to the Group's own ambition, sets clear environmental and social expectations of our suppliers that we ask them to work towards. We continue to engage directly with suppliers who make the biggest contribution to our supply chain emissions, to understand their alignment to our Emerald Standard requirements and future plans to meet it where they fall short.

 

Our Emerald Standard has four elements that we’re asking our key suppliers to work towards: 

  • Complete an annual public environmental disclosure through CDP, to include scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
  • Declare a public commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 or sooner, with near term targets against which progress can be tracked.
  • Set targets that are aligned to science so that emission reductions are credible. 
  • Disclose broader ESG performance including Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement.

We won’t ask suppliers to do anything that we’re not doing ourselves, and our Emerald Standard is just one of the ways we’re working in partnership with our supply chain to help drive progress towards a lower carbon future.  

Find out more about sustainability at Lloyds Banking Group

Environmental sustainability

Enabling the transition to a low carbon, more sustainable and inclusive future for people and businesses is key to delivering on our purpose.

Environmental sustainability

2023 Sustainability Report

This report provides an update on how we're supporting the transition to a low carbon economy.

Download the report PDF, 14MB (opens in new tab)