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Unite Students leads in climate change transparency – 11 November 2015

8 November 2016

Unite Students, the UK’s leading and largest Student accommodation provider, has been praised as a leader for the quality of climate change related information that it has disclosed to investors and the global marketplace. This is done through CDP, the international not-for-profit organisation that drives sustainable economies.

As a result, Unite has been awarded a position on the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI), released on 4 November 2015 in the France and Benelux edition of CDP’s annual global climate change report. 

The news comes three weeks ahead of COP21, the UN climate change conference, when international leaders meet to agree a global deal to reduce carbon emissions and limit temperature warming.

Unite has earned its position on the index by disclosing high quality carbon emissions and energy data through CDP’s climate change program.

Richard Smith, managing director of operations at Unite Students, said: 

“A robust and transparent reporting system is a key element of our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainabilty strategy, and helps internal and external stakeholders understand what we’re doing to reduce our environmental impact.  We are therefore proud that this hard work has been recognised.

“Being awarded a position on the CDLI reflects our commitment to the environment, through minimising our greenhouse gas emissions, our energy and water consumption, and by motivating our employees and students living with us to play their part too.”

Paul Dickinson, executive chairman and co-founder of CDP, commented: 

“As the world looks beyond the Paris climate change negotiations and prepares for a low carbon future, reliable information about how companies are responding to the transition will be ever more valuable.  For this reason we congratulate those businesses that have achieved a position on CDP’s Climate Disclosure Leadership Index.”

At the request of 822 investors who represent US$95 trillion in assets, thousands of companies submit annual climate disclosures to CDP.  Top scores indicate a high level of transparency in the disclosure of climate change-related information, providing investors with a level of comfort to assess corporate accountability and preparedness for changing market demands and emissions regulations.

The reported data has been independently assessed against CDP’s scoring methodology and marked out of 100, Unite Students achieved 99 out of 100.  Those organisations graded within the top 10% constitute the CDLI.