26.04.20
World’s Most Sustainable Real Estate Company Raises the Bar for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Standards
Ranked the world’s most sustainable real estate company on Corporate Knights’ 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, City Developments Limited (CDL) is bringing its expertise in green building design to Australia.
With the buildings and construction sector accounting for some 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions and 36% of global energy use, the built sector is pivotal in driving emissions reduction and transitioning towards a low-carbon future.
Over the past two decades, CDL’s ethos “Conserving As We Construct” has led to the Group’s prioritisation of ESG integration to create value and future-proof its business. Its sustainability-centric strategy has been anchored on four key pillars – Integration, Innovation, Investment, and Impact.
Since launching its Future Value 2030 Sustainability Blueprint in 2017, which sets ambitious ESG targets that contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, CDL increased its carbon emissions reduction target from 38% to 59% (from baseline year of 2007) and aims to reduce embodied carbon in building materials by 24% compared with their conventional equivalents.
As the first real estate company in Singapore to have its carbon reduction targets assessed and validated by the Science Based Target initiative, CDL took a step further in its carbon management by joining the pioneer batch of 87 companies worldwide to pledge support to the United Nations Global Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign in September 2019. CDL pledged to set climate targets across its operations, aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
In addition, CDL proactively adopts sustainable construction methods and integrates innovative technologies to enhance the environmental performance and financial value of its properties, as well as to create comfortable green living spaces.
To optimise resources and cost-savings, sustainability considerations are factored into the entire development lifecycle, starting from land acquisition and design to construction and building management.
Since 2011, CDL has set a minimum target for all its new developments to achieve a Green Mark GoldPLUS certification by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority, exceeding the mandatory Green Mark certification level.
To date, close to 70% of CDL’s portfolio of Green Mark certified developments and office interiors are rated Green Mark GoldPLUS and Platinum – the highest tier certification.
To augment business resilience and capital investment, CDL has embarked on a climate change scenario analysis aligned with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
CDL has since completed the first phase of its climate change scenario analysis using two scenarios of global temperature rises of 2°C and 4°C respectively in 2030 for its three main businesses – property development, investment properties, and hotel operations.
For the past two decades, CDL has driven innovative solutions to develop strategic low-carbon and resilient buildings. The Group looks forward to playing its part in Australia.
Since 2017, CDL has formed an R&D partnership with NUS School of Design and Environment (SDE). In addition to the NUS-CDL Tropical Technologies Laboratory (T2 Lab), which has been operational since late 2018, the NUS-CDL Smart Green Home Laboratory was opened in 2019 at NUS’ SDE Building 4, Singapore’s first new-build net-zero energy building. The two labs will conduct innovative experimental studies on smart features, green building technologies and designs for sustainable living.
CDL’s strong track record of effective ESG integration has been widely recognised by leading global sustainability benchmarks. It is the only company in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to be in the 2019 CDP A List for corporate climate action and water security respectively. Other major ranking lists to feature CDL for more than a decade include FTSE4Good Index Series (since 2002); MSCI ESG Leaders Indexes (since 2010); and Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (since 2011).
For more information on CDL’s sustainability efforts, please visit: www.cdlsustainability.com
