FCHO highlights carbon literacy and organisational culture at Housing Communities Summit

This week our CEO Mark Gifford and sustainability manager Olivia Greenhalgh were proud to attend the Housing Communities Summit in Liverpool, sharing how we’re putting both sustainability and organisational culture at the heart of our work.

At the two-day summit, hosted at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool, FCHO, Mark contributed to a leadership panel discussion on organisational culture, underlining how trust and transparency drive better services for customers.

Mark joined Amanda Newton from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing for a panel discussion entitled Culture in Action: Transforming Service Delivery and Rebuilding Trust. In his piece, Mark emphasised the importance of organisational culture in improving services for customers, highlighting how FCHO has built trust by being more outward facing with key stakeholders.

He explained how this transparent and collaborative approach has helped to strengthen partnerships to improve the lives of customers. Mark also talked about the value of using data-driven insights and analytics to inform decision-making and deliver better outcomes.

Alongside this, our sustainability manager, Olivia Greenhalgh joined The Carbon Literacy Project in its housing in practice agenda with the spotlighting on the value of carbon literacy as a vital step to achieving net-zero goals.

Olivia shared how we are embedding carbon literacy across the team through training. This equips colleagues with confidence and knowledge to weave sustainability into everyday operations, from investment decisions to customer engagement.

Olivia said: “Carbon literacy is a key enabler of our sustainability ambitions. It empowers colleagues and customers to make practical choices that reduce emissions, cut energy costs, and build stronger, greener communities. Sharing our approach at the Housing Communities Summit was a great opportunity to show how housing providers can help in tackling the climate crisis.”

By placing carbon literacy at the heart of its strategy, FCHO is ensuring that every action – whether investing in greener homes, tackling fuel poverty, or improving neighbourhoods supports Greater Manchester’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2038.