Wates and Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds) are to launch a competition to find sustainability innovations that can help Lloyds tackle its hybrid working and travel emissions and enhance biodiversity.

Green tech innovators and providers of sustainable solutions are invited to showcase their products for the chance to be piloted with Lloyds before potentially being rolled out at scale.

This is the second time Lloyds and Wates have teamed up to seek sustainable solutions and emerging green technologies.

Last year's competition saw four products being piloted across the Lloyds estate. For this new campaign, Lloyds is seeking products that will:

• accelerate progress to net zero operations and reduce waste from offices and sites across a building’s life cycle

• reduce home working emissions by supporting employees in reducing their domestic carbon footprint

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• improve sustainable and low carbon modes of transport

• enhance biodiversity across its estate by protecting habitats and the natural environment.

The competition aims to support Lloyds' goal to reach net zero carbon operations by 2030. It also reflects Wates' ambition to be net zero by 2045.

The partnership is being delivered in collaboration with Wates Innovation Network (WIN) Portal. The WIN Portal launched in 2021 and is a first-of-its-kind network of market-leading sustainable technologies and services.

This year's competition builds on the businesses' existing relationship, which includes a ten-year partnership with Wates Smartspace to refit and upgrade Lloyds’ spaces as it seeks to make its estate more sustainable.

Dr Zainab Dangana, Head of Sustainability at Wates Group, said: "The built environment industry is currently responsible for around 25% of UK carbon emissions, so if we're going to achieve our goal of being net zero by 2045 we really need to pick up the pace. In these efforts, we must be proactive; we simply cannot sit and wait for the innovative solutions to fall into our laps. We need to work together to seek out the next generation of tech and services the UK has to offer, and by partnering with forward thinking organisations such as Lloyds we can generate far greater awareness from interested parties in this space.

"The crucial next step is to connect these sustainable solutions with Lloyds and other built environment customers, many of which need help to identify the best, most cost-effective services or products for their estates. Our work through the WIN Portal bridges this gap, which is vital to our collective journey towards carbon neutrality."