In May 2022 Kensa announced it was launching its Social Impact Fund. This fund will aim to help households who are facing financial hardship and are having to make difficult choices such as choosing between heating and eating in communities in which Kensa operates.
Kensa is looking to develop a number of solutions it can use which will leave a lasting legacy and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
In 2021, Kensa won an Ashden Award for Climate Innovation at COP26 and with it, a prize fund. Kensa has pledged this money – and match-funded it – to set up the Social Impact Fund. Over the coming years, we will look to grow the fund with additional contributions and support from our supply chain partners, supporters and advocates.
Kensa is looking to develop a number of solutions it can use at selected sites where it has installed ground source heat pumps, leaving a lasting legacy and aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
Kensa will develop community food gardens to enable local residents and children to grow food.
Kensa will show residents how heat pumps work, how to identify maintenance issues and who to contact to resolve them.
Kensa will train its own employees on how to identify vulnerable people living in fuel poverty and at risk from living in cold and damp homes.
Kensa will signpost affected households to different charities and agencies to help them with issues such as debt, energy efficiency and mental health advice.
Kensa will be looking for green-fingered volunteers to help out with projects supported by the Social Impact Fund.
If you would like to help please email: sif_committee@thekensagroup.com
Fuel poverty can have detrimental effects on both physical and mental health. These issues are often related to increased levels of isolation, which in turn leads to many other social inequalities. Many of these families live in social housing, including over 4 million households in England, 600,000 in Scotland and 235,000 in Wales.
Installing a Kensa heat pump always improves the energy efficiency of a property and consequently lowers energy bills.
However, whilst working in disadvantaged communities, Kensa is seeing more and more households facing financial hardship and fuel poverty.
Providing further support to these vulnerable people is critical considering the current energy and cost of living crises.
Links to helpful advice and information can be found at Kensa Community Links.
If you can help accelerate the growth or assist with the aims of the Kensa Social Impact Fund, Kensa would like to hear from you.
Please email: sif_committee@thekensagroup.com
