b'Environmental benchmarking Uniting is committed to improving environmental performanceand achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040.Our consumers are among the peoplemost vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, environmental mismanagement and misuse of resources. This means responsible environmental practices areBreakdown of central to our mission. baseline carbon emissionsThis past year has seen us take significant strides forward in managing our environmental impact. These include: A Board resolution to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 A substantially revised and strengthenedElectricity 71% Cutting costs and carbon .Environmental Policy Fleet. 19% Development of a draft Environment StrategyNatural gas 9%with a pathway to net zero emissions Business travel 1% for our older residents Joining a platform for recording, analysing and reporting our use of energy, carbonOur Environment Strategy features an action emissions and other environmental impacts. plan which sets annual targets for the various Initially, we will report emissions from the gascategories, e.g. reducing energy use, increasingWeve partnered with an energy and carbon management company and electricity used at our properties (excludingrecycling and increasing renewable energyto install modern heat pump technology.housing), from our fleet of vehicles, and fromgeneration. We will report against these targets business travel. Next year we expect to addregularly at both a local and an organisation- These hot water system upgrades are helpingabated in 62 homes across our retirement emissions from refrigerants, water use, and thewide level, and this will help us track our progressresidents use up to 70% less energy whenvillages in metropolitan Melbourne and waste produced at our sites, We plan to addtowards our goals and guide our decision-making. heating their water, in turn saving themregional Victoria. Thats equivalent to 1,063 further categories in due course 1 . 1.This report covers our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions ashundreds of dollars and reducing theirdefined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, with the exclusion ofpetrol cars off the road or 78,607 trees The first step in measuring progress is to calculaterefrigerants as the data was not available. Water and waste arecarbon footprint. planted locally.reported under Scope 3, and further Scope 3 emissions will be Unitings baseline emissions for categoriesadded as resources allow. Hot water systems generally use betweenMy electricity bill has dropped by about $10 currently being measured. Our baseline carbon2.Baseline has been calculated from the average emissions 20% to 25% of the households energy use,per month now, shared one pleased resident. emissions have been calculated 2as 5216.4 tCO 2 -e.over FY23 and FY24. says Ecovantage Residential Services Manager, Mark ONeill.As an aged pensioner saving moneyBy replacing them with a heat pump hot is always important. water system, energy savings can be increased* This is a true story about real people. The photo accompanying by up to 70%. this story is for illustrative purposes only. It is not a photo of the person featured in this story.Thanks to these hot water service upgrades, 2,504 tonnes of carbon emissions have been 12 Uniting Vic.Tas and Uniting Housing Annual Report'