Our approach to sustainability is focused on meeting the demand for smarter, climate-resilient, healthier and accessible buildings for our tenants and residents. We want to create inclusive and livable spaces, while operating our clients’ portfolios efficiently in a manner that supports the transition towards a low-carbon economy.
Embedding Sustainability
We continue to evolve and deepen our approach to integrating sustainability principles into aspects of our business – from our values and strategies to our core processes as a vertically integrated real estate adviser. Our sustainability framework reflects our five pillars that support our business and societal ambitions, which we have aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
We work to make equity, diversity and inclusion a part of our value proposition in how we attract talent, deliver an exceptional tenant experience, and contribute to stronger, livable communities.
We continue to develop our clients’ buildings in a way that supports safe, inclusive and sustainable communities.
We are working towards natural resource conservation by improving operational efficiency, reducing the consumption of energy, materials and water, and encouraging sustainable materials through our procurement processes.
We are reducing the carbon intensity of our managed assets and working to make assets more resilient and adaptive to climate-related risks and natural hazards.
We adhere to our parent company’s ethical and legal standards – managing risks and embedding our values-based culture in our everyday decision-making processes.
Setting Clear Priorities
In alignment with international sustainability standards, we conducted a prioritization refresh exercise using the double-material principles to identify the topics with the greatest impact to our business and society. We followed a four-step process:
1
Understanding Organizational Context
3
Assessing Impact Significance
Prioritization Matrix
We reflected our prioritized topics on a matrix, highlighting their relative positioning as it relates to the impact on our business and the impact on society. These topics were mapped to our five strategic pillars, which support and are aligned with our strategic business objectives and priorities.
1 EDI (Equity, diversity and inclusion)
2 EOH&S (Environmental, occupational, health and safety)
Stakeholder Engagement
We are in the business of navigating investment risks and opportunities. Our role in solving the challenges facing the environment and society is to protect and advance the interests of our clients, policyholders, shareholders and other stakeholders.
Engagement Process
Engaging with our stakeholders is part of how we build trust. This is done in the normal course of our business through day-to-day interactions with our clients, tenants, third parties, employees and other partners – and through more formal and structured activities, specifically during development project approvals, tenant interactions, and representation at various business associations.
Raising Concerns
We have in place formal mechanisms for stakeholders to engage with us on issues of mutual interest. In addition to the contact information on our website, stakeholders can raise concerns through our legal and compliance department. We have a whistleblower policy and guidance, and take seriously all concerns raised, respecting confidentiality as far as possible.
How Do We Engage Stakeholders?
Parent Company
Parent Company
We actively engage with our parent company, Canada Life, a subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco, through various governance mechanisms. Our interactions with the parent company take place through our participation on sustainability councils, Investment Committees, and as it relates to risk and compliance management meetings. We engage on a wide variety of topics related to strategies, risks and opportunities, metrics and targets, and performance.
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Clients
Clients
We actively engage with our clients, which typically include pension funds and institutional and retail investors. Our engagement takes place through regular business planning meetings to provide updates on investment briefings, share insights on industry research studies and communicate the sustainability performance of their respective assets under management.
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Tenants and Residents
Tenants and Residents
We engage with the tenants and residents at our office, industrial, retail and multi-residential properties through a variety of processes. These include leasing discussions, property management communications, and tenant and resident events including sustainability-related awareness sessions such as Earth Day celebrations. We also conduct regular tenant and resident satisfaction surveys, which we use to inform our tenant experience programs.
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Employees
Employees
Our engagement with our employees takes place on an ongoing basis. We interact with them regularly through management updates, skills training and development, community volunteering programs, and through on-the-job feedback and annual performance reviews. Every three years, we run a comprehensive employee opinion survey, gaining their perspectives on our company and learning whether we are meeting our goals to be an employer of choice and how engaged they feel.
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Governments
Governments
We engage with regulators and policymakers both formally and informally, responding to consultations and inquiries and participating in regulatory filings and reviews. We also engage with regulators directly through development project permit approvals.
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Suppliers and Contractors
Suppliers and Contractors
Our engagement with suppliers and contractors takes place through project meetings, interactions during site visits, supplier events and project de-brief performance meetings. We also conduct engagements through the request for information and request for proposal processes. Through these interactions, we gain insights on and encourage the use of more sustainable products and services.
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Business Associations
Business Associations
We directly and indirectly engage with industry bodies and trade associations through membership forums, working groups and seminars. We participate in real estate industry memberships such as REALPAC, NAIOP, ULI and BOMA. We also engage on specific topics, including green buildings through the CaGBC, security partnerships such as the Commercial Real Estate Financial District Security Group and PATHComm, and various equity, diversity and inclusion partnerships such as the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and the BOMA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council.
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Academia
Academia
Our outreach to academia involves our participation in internships, career fairs, presentations at conferences and involvement with research groups such as the Urban Land Institute.
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Communities
Communities
Real estate has a tangible impact on communities. Community meetings provide valuable insight into local social and environmental issues and concerns. Stakeholder perspectives are integrated into our planning, design and construction processes. We often work collaboratively with community partners to address specific concerns. Project updates are publicly available through property websites, letters and other media.
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We actively engage with community organizations through partnerships and sponsorships, including with Habitat for Humanity, to address societal and environmental issues related to sustainable real assets.
