Canadian Commercial Real Estate Sustainability Performance Report 1 | P a G E
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Canadian Commercial Real Estate Sustainability Performance Report 1 | P a g e The information herein has been obtained from sources that Jantzi-Sustainalytics believes to be reliable; however, Jantzi-Sustainalytics does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Copyright © 2010 Jantzi-Sustainalytics. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Jantzi-Sustainalytics. For further information contact: Jantzi-Sustainalytics 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2C7 Tel: (416) 861-0403 Fax: (416) 861-0183 [email protected] 2 | P a g e ABOUT JANTZI -SUSTAINALYTICS Jantzi-Sustainalytics provides leading-edge analysis of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of organizations. As a global firm with local expertise, Jantzi-Sustainalytics offers high-quality information on companies, institutions and countries. Through the online research platform clients can access ESG profiles and ratings on more than 2,000 listed companies worldwide. Combined the new Jantzi-Sustainalytics has helped clients become responsible investors for nearly 20 years. ABOUT REAL PAC The Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac) is Canada’s premier industry association for investment real property leaders. Our mission is to collectively influence public policy, to educate government and the public, and to ensure stable and beneficial real estate capital and property markets in Canada. REALpac Members currently own in excess of $150 Billion CAD in real estate assets located in the major centres across Canada. Membership is comprised of the largest owners, developers and managers of commercial real estate in Canada including real estate investment trusts, publicly traded and large private companies, banks, brokerages, crown corporations, investment dealers, life companies, lenders, and pension funds. Assets include retail, office, industrial, hotel, multi- residential (apartments) and seniors housing. The Association operates in several areas including advocacy, financial best practices, research, standard setting, professional development, and networking events. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Simon MacMahon is the director of Jantzi-Sustainalytics’ Sustainability Services division and the global lead of real estate research. In the former capacity Simon provides direction, coordination and expertise in the areas of sustainability market research, best practices and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. These services create the foundation upon which corporations can make informed decisions on how to proactively manage environmental and social risks, and implement programs that deliver both shareholder and stakeholder value. As the global lead of real estate research, Simon oversees the analysis of the ESG performances of all real estate corporations on major indices internationally. 3 | P a g e TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 SUSTAINABILITY DRIVERS & COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE ....................................................................................... 6 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY & SUSTAINABILITY .............................................................................................................. 7 GREEN BUILDING .................................................................................................................................................... 8 INVESTORS AND SUSTAINABILITY ............................................................................................................................... 11 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................... 13 REPORT METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 13 BENCHMARK METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 14 OVERALL FINDINGS .............................................................................................................................................. 16 ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE .............................................................................................................................. 18 Operations .................................................................................................................................................... 18 Supply Chain ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Green Building .............................................................................................................................................. 22 SOCIAL PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................................................... 25 Employees .................................................................................................................................................... 25 Social Supply Chain ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Tenants ........................................................................................................................................................ 26 Communities and Philanthropy ..................................................................................................................... 27 SUSTAINABILITY GOVERNANCE PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................................. 28 Business Ethics .............................................................................................................................................. 28 Reporting, Transparency, and Oversight ........................................................................................................ 30 Public Policy .................................................................................................................................................. 31 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................................... 32 LEVERAGING THE SUSTAINABILITY DRIVERS .................................................................................................................. 32 ENVIRONMENT PERFORMANCE IS LAGGING .................................................................................................................. 33 SOCIAL PERFORMANCE IS COMPETITIVE ...................................................................................................................... 34 SUSTAINABILITY GOVERNANCE PERFORMANCE IS LIMITED ............................................................................................... 35 BROAD RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 36 ESG METRICS FOR COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE IN CANADA ................................................................................. 37 JANTZI-SUSTAINALYTICS ...................................................................................................................................... 38 4 | P a g e INTRODUCTION Across Canada and around the world, owners, managers, developers, occupiers and regulators are raising the bar on what constitutes best practices in the commercial real estate sector. Concurrently, standards of corporate accountability are becoming more stringent as stakeholders, such as employees, tenants and investors, are demanding more from the companies operating in their communities. In short, the imperative to address sustainability issues in the real estate sector has never been stronger. The Jantzi-Sustainalytics Sustainability Performance Assessment Initiative provides a detailed picture of how the sector in Canada is facing up to the challenge of developing, owning and managing commercial space in a sustainable way. Our goal in producing this report was three-fold: 1) To explore the drivers for sustainability in real estate To gain a better understanding of the business case for the three interrelated main components of responsible commercial real estate, namely corporate responsibility & sustainability (CR&S), responsible property investing (RPI) and green building 2) To enhance and share our robust evaluation methodology of commercial real estate companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance To provide companies with a better understanding of which CR&S indicators should be considered when developing a company-wide sustainability (reporting) framework 3) To assess the ESG performances of Canadian real estate companies at the company and industry levels, and to compare them with international (best) practices To determine the degree to which Canadian companies are leading or lagging To extract and highlight best practices from the companies surveyed This initiative brings together the opinions of a number of participants and sources. With the help of the Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac) we identified 23 companies to be included