secure home at university. Unite Students also became a signatory to the Care Leaver Covenant during 2025 as well as working to implement the Care Leaver Friendly Employer Charter, helping employers create a supportive and inclusive environment for people who have been in care. COMMUNITIES Positive Impact, our employee sustainability engagement programme, continues to support local communities with employee volunteering increasing to 36% (2024: 31%) during the year. The Committee was supportive of our commitment to dedicate parts of our new and existing buildings to community spaces, recognising the significant impact for local communities and partnerships. THE ENVIRONMENT The Sustainability Committee continues to monitor our Net Zero Carbon Pathway and track progress using reporting metrics covering the key activities for delivery of our framework. With input from the Sustainability Committee, the business continues to build on recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to improve our management of climate-related risk. We received an ‘A’ rating from CDP and maintained a four-star Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets (GRESB) rating, with our scores increasing for both operations and developments. During 2025, the Committee monitored progress towards our new development sustainability targets. Our sustainable construction framework continues to help drive progress in this area, with significant progress made in reducing both embodied carbon and designed operational energy performance at Avon Point in Bristol and Burnet Court and Burnet Point in Edinburgh. The Sustainability Committee also received updates in respect of our sustainable procurement framework and continued to oversee the impact of our supply chain on sustainability objectives. During 2025, the Committee had oversight of investment into energy efficiency projects and continued to review the investment required to meet our CRREM targets for reduction in operational energy intensity. During the year, there was a strong focus on embedding responsible behaviour among both our teams and students through initiatives including energy use and waste management and recycling, which was supported by the launch of reuse stations and new in-flat recycling facilities across our properties. OUR COLLEAGUES The Committee was supportive of increased efforts to embed sustainability across the business and received regular employee engagement and people metric updates from the senior leadership team. During the year our 2030 people targets and ambitions were refreshed, with belonging introduced as a new measure of success at the heart of our ambition to be a Great Place to Work. Our 2030 goals include achieving Investor In People Platinum status, increasing our employee belonging score and reaching 40% representation of women in senior leadership roles. PRIORITIES FOR 2026 The Sustainability Committee will continue to track and oversee progress in all four areas of our sustainability framework. This includes maintaining oversight of investment into social initiatives, linked to our £15 million by 2030 target, and the implementation of the Care Leaver Covenant. The Committee will also continue to oversee investment into energy efficiency projects during 2026 and monitor the decarbonisation and climate resilience of our business to ensure our plans remain credible and meet stakeholder expectations, while protecting the business from material financial risks. The Committee will monitor our climate-related risk exposure, management and reporting and ensure the Group’s net zero carbon amibition evolves to remain in line with emerging expectations, guidance and regulation in this area. This includes an update to our Net Zero Carbon Pathway. The implementation of our sustainable construction framework through development and university partnerships will continue to be reviewed by the Committee during 2026. Dame Shirley Pearce Chair – Sustainability Committee 24 February 2026 Committee membership Dame Shirley Pearce Chair of the Sustainability Committee Joe Lister Chief Executive Officer Ilaria del Beato Non-Executive Director Ross Paterson Non-Executive Director Number of meetings 4 THE UNITE GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2025 109