Summerset Moves Past ‘Going Green’ To Thinking Green

Summerset is proudly the only retirement village operator in NZ to be a member of the Climate Leaders Coalition who this week released their Fourth Snapshot Report highlighting the heavy lifting being done by signatories to reduce emissions.

“We’re committed to reducing our carbon emissions and creating villages that have the lowest impact possible on our environment. As a Coalition signatory we are committed to leading the response to climate change through meaningful action in our business and welcome the transparency of our progress in the Snapshot Report,” said CEO Scott Scoullar.

“Since our base reporting year of 2017, we have been measuring, managing, and reporting on our carbon footprint and we have successfully been reducing our emissions intensity per square metre since then, with the forecast for 2022 being a 17% reduction.”

Summerset was the first net carbonzero™ retirement village operator in New Zealand. Toitū Envirocare began independently auditing company emissions to the ISO14064-1 standard in 2018, and the company has been increasing its commitment to sustainability ever since.

“In the last five years we have significantly reduced our construction waste, became the first Retirement Village operator to get sustainability linked lending, introduced a science-aligned target, joined the Climate Leaders Coalition, and changed many practices across our business from fertiliser use to travel,” said Mr Scoullar.

One of the initiatives implemented was the redesign of Summerset’s village main buildings to move to a “lightweight” building. Commencing with the Mt Denby Village in Whangarei, our lightweight design eliminated the use of fossil fuels (gas) and has utilised sustainable materials such as Cross Laminated Timber to produce a highly sustainable building.

“We’ve moved past the ‘going green’ phase to thinking green right across the company. We’ve integrated sustainability into business decisions and we’re challenging ourselves in all parts of our business to do better.”

Summerset has been a member of the Climate Leaders Coalition since its inception in 2018 when it was launched to promote business leadership and collective action on climate change.

Summerset has also been named a finalist with Waste Management NZ in the Outstanding Collaboration category at the 2022 Sustainable Business Awards. Winners will be announced at the Sustainable Business Awards to be held on 23 November 2022, which is also the 20th Anniversary of the awards.

ABOUT SUMMERSET

• Summerset is one of the leading operators and developers of retirement villages in New Zealand, with 36 villages completed or in development nationwide
• In addition, Summerset has seven proposed sites at Half Moon Bay (Auckland) Milldale (Auckland), Parnell (Auckland), Rotorua (Bay of Plenty), Kelvin Grove (Palmerston North), Masterton (Wairarapa), and Rangiora (Canterbury)
• Summerset also has seven properties in Victoria, Australia (Chirnside Park, Craigieburn, Cranbourne North, Drysdale, Mernda, Oakleigh South and Torquay) bringing the total number of sites to 50.
• Summerset provides a range of living options and care services to more than 7,100 residents.

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