Introduction, ambition and strategy

We believe Responsible Investment is about all employees and affiliated organisations taking the initiative to help improve the environment and society. The built environment consumes around 40% of the world’s energy and accounts for up to 30% of the world’s annual GHG emissions. Additionally, the building industry is a large user of raw materials. As a global real estate investor, we feel it is part of our responsibility to help find solutions. To contribute to a CO₂-neutral, sustainable, circular, resilient and healthy living environment, and to enhance stakeholder value by investing in sustainable real estate.

Long-term climate change ambition: near ‘energy neutral’ portfolio before 2045

The Fund endorses the area-focused approach proposed by the Dutch government. In the period through 2021, the Fund plans to start a number of pilots to gain experience in making existing homes natural gas-free or natural gas-free-ready. The projects under construction the Fund has acquired are virtually all natural gas-free. And all but one of the current acquisitions are natural gas-free. Whenever gas-powered installations are replaced in the coming years, we will weigh the feasibility of replacing these with (nearly) natural gas-free installations.

Before 2021, local municipalities will have to draw up their visions for providing sustainable heating, indicating per area (district/neighbourhood) the future heating source and when this will be available. In the period 2019-2021, the Fund will draw up a 'Paris Proof' roadmap 2030/2050 to determine how we will use smart methods to make the entire portfolio near energy neutral before 2045 (average energy index of 0). The basic premise of this initiative is that any improvements are affordable, fit into our maintenance cycle and are aligned with the area-focused approach of the municipal authority in question. 

In addition to this, we will continue to make an active contribution to the concrete measures aimed at realising the climate agreement and regional plans via various channels (including the Dutch Association of Institutional Property Investors, IVBN, and the Dutch Green Building Council).

To make a start, we have formulated the following ‘Paris-proof’ objectives for the mid-term:

• 2021-2030: a year-on-year 5% reduction in GHG emissions for the total portfolio (general and tenant consumption)

• 2030: at least 50% of our homes are natural gas-free

• 2030: our portfolio has an average energy label A (energy index <1.0)

Strategy: obtain GRESB 5-star rating in 2020

Our long-term strategy to keep the Fund highly sustainable and achieve a GRESB 5-star rating, is based on three main pillars:

The Residential Fund's goal is to obtain a GRESB 5-star rating in 2020, rather than retaining a GRESB 4-star rating as stated in the Fund plan 2018-2020. This will keep the Fund highly sustainable and make a positive contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), which include Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) and Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).

Summary of Responsible Investment

The Fund has targets in accordance with its Responsible Investment objectives and long-term climate ambitions. In 2018, the Fund made significant progress on its Responsible Investment objectives and targets, as shown in the table below. The 2018 results according to INREV sustainability guidelines are explained in the following sections. For more detailed information, please see the Responsible Investment performance indicators on page 111 of this annual report.