Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) For Board Members – @_Centrus March 2021

CORPORATE FINANCE ANALYTICS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. The housing sector’s challenge

• Growing interest from lenders and investors in opportunities with a positive Environmental and Social performance and strong Governance (ESG)

• There was no consistency in how Housing Providers’ ESG performance was reported on and assessed

• In many areas Housing Providers have a very positive story to tell, but were unable communicate this to potential lenders and investors

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Project Overview

White Paper Outline Scope

1. Market Context • Focus on the regulated social and affordable housing sector. All • The social need for affordable housing tenure types – social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership. Elements of the framework will be relevant to private affordable housing • The opportunities and risks of private investment in social and affordable housing • • Why ESG and Impact measurement, management and Focus on not-for-profit and for-profit Registered Providers of Social reporting matters Housing (RPs) / Registered Social Landlords (RSLs). But also relevant to local authorities and ALMOs.

2. ESG and Impact Reporting Approach • Designed for the UK wide housing sector, but may take inputs from • Dimensions and criteria the wider European sector. • Measurement and Reporting Framework incl. key metrics and data source

Follow-up: Longer term standards development and adoption phase

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. ESG Reporting vs Impact Reporting

An approach to ESG Reporting An approach to Impact Reporting

• The criteria becomes the standardised way of disclosing consistent, • A common approach to describing what Good looks like for Social comparable, information related to the ESG performance of a and Environmental impact – this is because impact reporting requires a definition on what is a positive impact e.g. What is Affordable Accommodation? • Means of incorporating these factors into routine reporting to lenders, investors and other stakeholders • Criteria becomes outcome focused

• Doesn't say what “Good” is, instead it provides a common set of • We replace binary Yes/No questions with measures that can be graded data to use in ESG analysis as part of investment decision making and we add thresholds where appropriate

• We expect this to be time efficient for all Housing Associations to • This will create additional measuring requirements for HAs, and more complete detail than is currently needed by debt investors

• Represents a baseline for good practice and a launchpad into • Recent examples are sustainability linked loans where margin sustainability and impact linked financing structures reductions are linked to performance against agreed ESG KPIs

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Working Group Members

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. ESG Themes

ESG Area Theme Name Description

Affordability and Security Provides affordable and secure housing

Building Safety and Quality Resident safety and building quality are well managed

Social Resident Voice Listens to residents’ voice

Resident Support Supports residents, and the local community

Placemaking Supports residents and the wider local community through placemaking

Climate Change Prevents and mitigates the risk of climate change

Environmental Ecology Promotes ecological sustainability

Resource Management Sustainable management of natural resources

Structure and Governance Legal structure of the organisation and its approach to Governance

Board & Trustees High quality board of trustees Governance Staff Wellbeing Supports employees

Supply Chain Procures responsibly

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Housing Provider – Early Adopters

The Sustainability Reporting Standard had 45 Housing Provider early adopters as of 18/01/2021.

• Abri • Halton Housing • Octavia Housing • Adra • Home Group • One Vision Housing • Alliance Homes • • Optivo • Broadacres Housing Association • Jigsaw Homes Group • Orbit Group • Cartrefi Conwy • Karbon Homes • PA Housing • • Lincolnshire Rural Housing Association • Peabody • CHP • LiveWest Homes • Pine Court Housing Association • • Livin Housing • Platform Housing Group • ClwydAlyn • Magenta Living • Pobl Group • Curo Group • Metropolitan Thames Valley • Rooftop Housing Group • Dolphin Living • Midland Heart • Settle Group • Gloucester City Homes • NCHA • Sovereign Housing Association • Grand Union Housing Group • Network Homes • Stonewater Homes • Great Places Housing Group • Newlon Housing Trust • Thirteen Group • • Newydd Housing Association • Vivid Housing

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Lenders/Investors – Early Adopters

The Sustainability Reporting Standard had 33 Lender/Investor early adopters as of 18/01/2021.

• Affirmative Investment Management • Henley Investment Management • Rathbone Greenbank Investments • Affordable Accommodation • HSBC UK Bank • Residential Secure Income Plc Investment Management (AAIM) • Insight Investment Management (Global) • Rothesay Life • Aviva Investors • LaSalle Investment Management • Royal London Asset Management • Barclays • LGIM Real Assets • Schroders • BlackRock Investment Management • Lloyds Banking Group • The Housing Finance Corporation (UK) • M&G Investments • The International Business of • Civitas Investment Management • MORhomes Federated Hermes • Civitas Social Housing PLC • National Australia Bank • Triple Point Investment • Fundamentum Property Advisers • NatWest Group Management LLP • Fundamentum Social Housing REIT • Pension Insurance Corporation • Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank PLC • PGIM Real Estate • Scottish Widows • GB Social Housing • Principality Building Society

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Growth of ESG & Sustainability linked funding

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. ESG | Beyond Sustainability Reporting Standards

ESG Accreditation

• Being able to communicate their ESG credentials effectively is crucial if housing associations wish to:  Meet the increasing ESG-linked conditionality of financing agreements, linked to margin discounts; and  Access additional pools of capital ready to invest in the sector.  Meet the up-front & on-going ESG reporting needs of existing lenders/investors • Centrus has played a significant role through driving the launch of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing in Nov-20. • For new formats such as green or sustainability linked bonds, housing associations are required to validate their ESG credentials to their potential investor base. • In this fledgling marketplace there are a number of companies emerging who are starting to offer services to housing associations to achieve ESG accreditation and these include

• Understanding the services these companies offer and how they fit together is important as you seek to explore developing your ESG credentials.

CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. ESG | Accreditation and Second Party 0pinion

Confirmation of your ESG credentials

• What are Lenders/Investors looking for?  Broad ESG credentials  Specific Debt instrument linked credentials/KPIs

• What form can this take?  Specific KPI targets- Primarily being used by bank lenders (recent example- Bromford – gender pay gap) for both debt and derivatives  Adoption of the new Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing  Accreditation through an ESG label (example- Clarion who adopted the Ritterwald Certified Sustainable Housing Label- ICMA standards)  Second Party Opinions (example- Clarion who took SPO from imug) can facilitate Green/Sustainable debt issuance  Framework review (example- MORhomes who achieved a framework accreditation from Sustainalytics)

CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. ESG | Summary & Conclusions

Significant momentum now behind ESG reporting and investment

• What are Lenders/Investors looking for?  Good articulation of a borrower’s ESG credentials  Transparency and strong on-going reporting using consistent frameworks and methodologies  Specific Debt instrument linked credentials/KPIs

• What form can this take?  Specific KPI targets- Primarily being used by bank lenders (recent examples- gender pay gap/nursery places/residents in employement) for both debt and derivatives  Potential for institutional investors to adopt similar “impact” based approach to private placements  Adoption of the new Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing  Framework review (example- MORhomes who achieved a framework accreditation from Sustainalytics)  Accreditation through an ESG label (example- Clarion who adopted the Ritterwald Certified Sustainable Housing Label- ICMA standards)  Second Party Opinions (example- Clarion who took SPO from imug) can facilitate Green/Sustainable debt issuance

CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Contact Us

Phil Jenkins

m: +44 (0) 778820 9354 d: + 44 (0) 203 846 5671 e: [email protected]

LONDON DUBLIN

Senator House 21 Clanwilliam Square 85 Queen Victoria Street Grand Canal Quay London | EC4V 4DP Dublin 2 | D02 P860 T: +44 (0) 203 846 5670 T: +353 (1) 6539369

centrusfinancial.com centrusfinancial.com

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011. Disclaimer

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CONFIDENTIAL Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Registration number 750011.