Bouwinvest believes it has a responsibility to make sure its investments meet sustainability criteria and that we operate in a responsible and ethical manner. We have always taken a long-term view and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria play a significant role in our investment strategy. This is because we are convinced that sustainable and socially responsible investments and business operations play a key role in helping us to book stable returns from our real estate investments.
The effective integration of social, environmental, and/or ethical considerations in our core business strategy and operations helps us to create more value for our stakeholders and generate better risk-adjusted financial returns for our shareholders. This is why we have included these ESG factors in our daily operations and decisions for many years.
Our CSR strategy enables us to respond to issues such as: investment market changes, shifting consumer demands, legislation and regulation compliance, climate change, and the need to use natural resources more efficiently. And we can do this in combination with the creation of value for all our stakeholders.
CSR highlights 2015
Several success stories in building long-term value through sustainable partnerships
GRESB Green Star status for our three Dutch sector funds for the second year in a row
Commitment of the Chairman of the Board of Directors: accelerating sustainability by cooperation and a focus on value creation (statement Dutch Green Building Council)
Number of best performing Green Star fund managers in our international portfolio have more than doubled over the past four years
CO2 emissions for the management organisation further reduced by 0.6% in 2015 (7.7% since 2012)
Made significant progress in updating our CSR policy
Active endorsement of our social responsibility in our hiring policy and through a partnership with HomePlan
Stakeholder engagement and management
At Bouwinvest, we work with various stakeholders and realise that our business conduct and the choices we make affect those stakeholders, either in short-term or the long-term. Our stakeholders include shareholders, investors, tenants, business partners, such as property managers, international real estate managers and real estate developers, our employees, regulatory bodies, local authorities and society as a whole. We make it our duty to show our involvement with these parties, and to take responsibility in the fields that our stakeholders find important.
The current environmental and social issues that are important to our stakeholders include good corporate governance, ethical behaviour, a strong respect for human rights, sustainable real estate and a good living environment. We pay close attention to these issues when making investments.
Bouwinvest believes that the best way to engage with its stakeholders is through open and transparent dialogue. This dialogue helps us to identify the material issues that are relevant to the Bouwinvest organisation and its funds and to ascertain what our stakeholders want and the issues they find relevant to them. Identifying these issues in turn helps us to have a more positive impact, reduce costs, future-proof our organisation and, ultimately, create value for all our stakeholders.