Customer story
Metro Bank
“notch have been central to us achieving our environmental initiatives and we wouldn’t be able to do this without their support.”
Introduction
Launched in 2010, Metro Bank was the newest bank to launch on the high street in over 100 years. Their ambition is to become the number one community bank – centred on colleagues, customers, and the communities they operate in.
An essential part of this strategy is to act sustainably and responsibly and the team at Metro Bank have been working with notch since 2022 to help them to develop a carbon reduction plan in line with this.
We spoke with Avneesh Sharma, Lead Enterprise and Operational Risk Manager at Metro Bank to understand the motivations behind their Net Zero journey and their experience of working with notch.
Why did you start Carbon Accounting?
“Our initial commitment to reaching full Net Zero by 2050 was driven by a desire to align with the expectations set out in the Paris Agreement. As a financial institution and limited company, we are required to report in line with Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) requirements which we started doing from 2021.
However, Metro Bank is a community bank – we seek to serve the communities that we operate in and that includes the planet and we have taken steps over and above what is expected of us. We want to be as transparent as possible, and we aligned our reporting to our peers.
We came across notch through our business incubator programme, and they have helped us make strong strides forward in recording our emissions data and keeping us up to date with the latest developments in this rapidly evolving area.
“We have a great relationship with notch. The output from the team – the quality of measurement, the consistency and process, has made our outcomes more auditable. They were able to break down into manageable steps everything that sits around our goals to reach Net Zero, in our Scopes 1 & 2, by 2030.”
What benefits have you seen?
“We are starting to see the fruits of our initiatives with our Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions down by 90% from our year one baseline, and we are proud to be recognised by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) as one of the better examples of climate disclosure in the industry.
We have always been strong in our social purpose- our environment focus has been more of a learning curve but with guidance we have certainly begun to ‘walk the walk’ with some of our initiatives.
– We are now REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin) backed on our electricity purchases.
– Our ESG Steering Committee is led by and contains members of the Executive Committee, and our Chief Risk Officer has responsibility for the management of climate-related risks under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime.
– Annual updates on climate-related risks and opportunities are presented to our Board, which contains a designated Non-Executive Director for ESG.
– We are making sure that we manage climate risk by embedding it in our framework and governance structure.
“The upshot of these initiatives being given visibility and attention is that more and more people are aware of it and are getting involved by asking more questions. Climate risk is now a fundamental part of my day-to-day role.
notch have been central to us achieving this and we wouldn’t have been able to do this without their support.”
What would be your advice to another company?
“My advice would be to understand your motivations for doing it, ask a lot of questions and be humble with the responses – be open to the feedback.
Also, flip your mindset to it not just being an operational cost and compliance exercise – this can be and should be a commercial differentiator. Sometimes an initiative might cost a bit more money initially but don’t lose sight of the fact that there can be very real and growing commercial opportunities on the back of an initiative and if you don’t position yourself well, you won’t be able to capture them.”
90%
Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions down from our year one baseline
REGO
We are REGO backed on our electricity purchases.
ESG
Board level representation
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