Embracing the new normal

Jill Waters, Retail Director, NS&I

For several years, NS&I’s sustainability performance has been ahead of government targets for reducing carbon emissions, energy and water consumption. We continue to take steps to improve our performance, and year on year have been lowering our carbon emissions.

Embracing the new

We can lead from the front thanks to renewable energy sources at our Blackpool and Durham sites, this means that net carbon emissions from electricity at both locations are minimal. As a UK employer, we can make decisions that encourage sustainable attitudes across all of our sites across the country. We take great pride in doing this, given the importance of sustainability to our people, our customers and our stakeholders.

Reducing business travel – this approach had been a conscious decision pre-pandemic and when we were met with restrictions on travel in 2020, it meant we could adapt. We had made Directors personally responsible for encouraging reduced travel in their teams and supporting the use of videoconferencing where appropriate and our approach to flexible and remote working meant we could adapt quickly and effectively.

Delivering for customers

During the pandemic, we have been able to encourage more online use, freeing up telephone lines for the most vulnerable. Feedback for our digital customer service was extremely positive on social media, as we worked to ensure customers needs were met and business continuity was maintained, despite extremely high demand.

By working to define digital-first processes we are able to invest in system changes that will make our operation leaner and greener, which will benefit all of our customers for years to come.