Specialist lender Cambridge & Counties Bank has expanded its sustainability and ESG programme further through a new partnership with Sustainable X, a St Albans-based consultancy specialising in sustainable business practices.
The partnership will focus on evolving and refining the bank’s established sustainability approach across all operations at the bank, including reducing negative climate and social impacts while maximising the positive contributions on all stakeholders.
In particular, it will help it to identify the most significant environmental and social issues to fulfil the bank’s mission to achieve sustainable, long-term growth.
At the start of February, the bank announced it had joined the UK chapter of Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), a collaboration between financial institutions focused on developing harmonized assessments of greenhouse gas emissions financed by loans and investments.
Last year, the bank achieved B Corp Certification, one of the most prestigious independent assessments that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency.
As part of the new collaboration with Sustainable X, the bank will develop an action plan for how it works with suppliers to optimise sustainability, as well as review how community and customer impact is measured. B Corp Certification is one of the standards against which Sustainable X will measure ESG impact.
Nick Reilly, Partner at Sustainable X, added, “We are delighted to work alongside Cambridge & Counties Bank on its dedicated aim to strengthen its sustainability credentials. With strong fundamentals already in place, we’re looking forward to helping the bank challenge how it measures impact, tackles risks and identifies opportunities within the emerging frameworks and regulations.”
Richard Bryan, General Counsel at Cambridge & Counties Bank, said, “At Cambridge & Counties Bank, we’re proud to have been a B Corp for almost a year, but the journey is just beginning. Partnering with Sustainable X was an obvious choice in our ongoing journey to creating a positive environmental and social impact.”
Cambridge & Counties Bank has a unique structure being jointly owned by Trinity Hall, a College of the University of Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund. They each own 50 per cent of the bank, which has a strong management team led by chief executive Donald Kerr.
