June 21, 2024.3 minutes

Helical and Agreena — Building a more sustainable future

Buildings account for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and nearly one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, so they present both a significant challenge and a critical opportunity for mitigating climate change. Laura Beaumont, Head of Sustainability at London property developer Helical PLC, explains how Helical is responding to this challenge and taking direct climate action using carbon credits is a key part of its ESG toolkit.

‘Partnering with Agreena presented an opportunity to purchase carbon credits that aligned with our own stringent requirements. Not only were we supportive of Agreena’s internal project due diligence but they were also able to clearly demonstrate the wider benefits of supporting regenerative farming such as enhancing biodiversity and food security.’

Laura Beaumont
Head of Sustainability, Helical

The challenge

Based in central London, Helical designs, develops and operates best-in-class sustainable assets, including The JJ Mack Building, which recently received the UK’s highest BREEAM-rating.

To have a competitive advantage in this industry, it is critical to deliver a best-in-class building – which by today’s standards is an environmentally sustainable, net zero carbon building rich with amenity space and superior energy efficiency. More and more of our occupiers are interested in, and asking complex questions about, the environmental credentials of the buildings they’ll occupy, because it’s also important to their business reputation and their own net zero carbon journeys.

The UK Green Building Council provides a definition of a net zero building and we are seeking to meet that for all future developments. Helical has committed to becoming net zero by 2030 and has a clearly defined pathway towards that goal. It covers carbon targets for our building properties, as well as the energy intensity of those buildings once fully occupied – making sure that they operate in the most efficient and lean way possible.

Construction is carbon intensive, but we’re committed to reducing our carbon emissions as much as is currently possible. It’s no longer acceptable to construct buildings in the way we did 10 years ago and rely on carbon credits as offsets. We have to be transparent about the materials and energy being used and make our model available for assessment and third-party verification.

While we are focused on this, we also recognise that regardless of the available technology and desire to deploy it, there remains a need to compensate for some of our hard-to-abate emissions. That’s where Agreena comes in.

The impact

Helical chose to purchase carbon credits via the voluntary carbon market (VCM), but we were very conscious of participating in VCM in the right way. In particular, we wanted to go beyond regulatory requirements and support local climate impact, ideally focusing on UK projects.

Buying carbon credits generated through regenerative farming in the UK was, therefore, a natural fit. Agreena’s carbon credits are of high-integrity and deliver local climate impact – we’ve been excited by the possibility of physically visiting UK farms to see the regenerative practices that we’re backing in action and to see firsthand what impact they are having.

For Helical, there’s a desired focus on nature-based solutions generating carbon credits that have an impact on biodiversity and contribute to food security. That’s why regenerative farming is really interesting to us. Helical is delighted to be playing a part in supporting a transition in agriculture that delivers multiple objectives: carbon sequestration, food production, climate resilience, and boosting biodiversity, all within the UK.

Supporting corporate sustainability progress

Agreena works with farmers and corporates to accelerate the regenerative transition. We help companies bring integrity and transparency to sustainability initiatives and decarbonise value chains while restoring soil health across multiple countries in Europe.