Our view of sustainability
Bouwinvest aims to provide a solid return on real estate investments for institutional investors and their beneficiaries and to do this in a responsible manner. What this means is that we take a long-term view and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria play a significant role in our investment strategy. We have integrated social, environmental, and/or ethical considerations in our core business strategy and operations to create more value for our stakeholders and generate better risk-adjusted financial returns for our clients.
Sustainable and socially responsible investments and business operations play a key role in booking growth in a controlled manner, future-proofing our organisation and real estate investments and is part of the role we want to play in tackling the challenges we all face today and in the future. In other words, we see sustainability as an inherent part of our corporate mission and our license to operate.
Our sustainability mission
Our ambition is to be in the leading group of sustainable real estate managers. We want to set the standard in our sector and create and sustain stakeholder value through effective integration of material ESG issues that lower risks and future-proof our real estate investments, enhance the skills and satisfaction of our employees and contribute to the development of the communities we invest in.
Our strategy to achieve this goal is based on three main pillars:
Long-term performance: we want to provide stable returns and improve overall performance.
Building value: we want to create added value for all our stakeholders.
Sustainable partnerships: we want to develop and maintain sustainable partnerships with our stakeholders.
Making this sustainability strategy an integral part of our business will enable us to respond to issues such as investment market changes, shifting consumer demands, legislation and regulation compliance and climate change, and helps us to safeguard the sustainable use of natural resources. We aim to do all of while still creating value for our stakeholders.
Long-term performance
In line with our CSR pillars, we are focused on increasing the sustainability performance and attractiveness of the assets in our real estate portfolios and of the funds in which we invest indirectly. Not only does this boost the long-term performance of our assets, it also increases the total value of the property portfolios we manage and creates financial and social value for all our stakeholders.
Building value
Bouwinvest considers investments in sustainability from a business perspective, as we want to create sustainable value long into the future. Energy-efficiency measures improve the competitive position of our portfolios and add value for all our stakeholders, including our clients, our tenants and our employees. However, Bouwinvest’s sustainability strategy extends beyond energy use to the social aspects of sustainability, such as investments to upgrade local public amenities, and create a pleasant working environment where people can also meet and enjoy various leisure activities. In effect, we have moved beyond the question of the value that sustainability can add to our business to looking at the value our business can create for all our stakeholders, including the local environments in which we operate and society as a whole.
Sustainable partnerships
Cooperation and engagement with our clients, tenants, suppliers and other stakeholders are an essential part of our sustainability strategy. We firmly believe that we can achieve the most by working with our clients and other stakeholders, sharing ideas and devising innovative solutions to the challenges we all face.
We also believe that the best way to ensure that our CSR strategy is effective is to form sustainable long-term partnerships with our business partners. These organisations play a vital role in our daily operations, and ensure that our assets remain clean, safe and vibrant places. We set strict requirements for our third-party suppliers and assess their performance regularly. We also forge long-term business partnerships with other stakeholders, such as our investors, in which we protect the interests of our clients by conducting our business in a transparent, fair and ethical manner, avoiding all forms of corruption and unethical conduct, while providing stable and sustainable returns on their investments.
See the Corporate governance section in this report for more details.
Sustainable real estate
Bouwinvest is constantly improving the transparency and sustainability performance of its three main sector funds, both at a bricks and mortar level, area level and at fund level. We use globally accepted performance indicators (INREV, GRI) and sustainability labels (GRESB, BREEAM) to benchmark our performance and our progress.
For more details, please see the CSR sections in our fund reports and the CSR performance indicators in this annual report