Kelly Russell
Catella
Head of Sustainability & CommunicationCatella
COIMA SGR
Integrating sustainability in the business model
The sustainability strategy and objectives are integral parts of the COIMA RES business model and represent an identity factor for the Company as well as for the entire COIMA platform.
COIMA RES recognises the importance of ethical and social responsibility in running the business, which takes the form of behaviours based on absolute compliance with all the legal provisions and the principles of honesty, impartiality, reliability, loyalty, fairness, transparency and good faith expressed in the Code of Ethics.
The responsible and sustainable management of the business aims to bring together value creation for shareholders by maintaining the relationship of trust with all stakeholders and preserving the reputation of the Company. These strategic objectives are also pursued thanks to a corporate governance system aligned with the requirements of Italian listed companies and with international best practices and a model of organisation, control and risk management appropriate to the profile of the Company's activities.
The implementation of the sustainability strategy is based on the guidelines set out in the Sustainability Policy and even more concretely, in an action plan that looks at specific objectives and is updated annually.
The coordination of the sustainability action of the COIMA platform is promoted, systemised, and monitored by the Sustainable Innovation Committee, a body that benefits from the multidisciplinary brought by the 7 members of which it is composed of from the different entities of the COIMA platform.
Ultimately, COIMA RES sustainability issues are the responsibility of the senior management and the Board of Directors of the Company. These issues are regularly discussed during the Company’s annual strategy day, in conjunction with the approval of the business plan and with the approval of the Company's annual results. In addition, these issues are further discussed during ad hoc sessions, for example the session on the decarbonisation of the Company's portfolio, organized in December 2020.
The sustainability policy
To give substance to its commitment to sustainability, COIMA RES approved its sustainability policy in September 2019. In addition to compliance with all national and local regulations, the policy provides for the implementation of best practices in the field of environmental protection, public health, occupational health and safety and corporate governance. The integration of the most advanced sustainability standards is promoted in all real estate projects and all employees and interested parties are urged to become more aware of ESG issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL
ASPECTS
- Tackle climate change by limiting greenhouse gas emissions by working towards near net-zero carbon dioxide projects
- Ensure that natural resources are managed efficiently during property development and management activities
- Avoid waste in all phases of the real estate life cycle, promoting a circular economy in the development and management of real estate
- Minimise pollution and contamination, reduce emissions, select environmentally friendly materials and components
- Preserve biodiversity and habitats
SOCIAL
ASPECTS
- Provide healthy and safe environments for people in and around buildings
- Ensure the safety, safety and wellbeing of employees with a careful risk assessment and the adoption of all necessary mitigation
- Being a good administrator in the communities in which COIMA RES operates through operational and development activities
- Strengthen the commitment with all interested parties (employees, investors, tenants, suppliers, etc.)
GOVERNANCE
ASPECTS
- Operate with ethics, integrity and fairness
- Live up to the Code of Ethics as a fiduciary partner of all interested parties
- Operate transparently with all stakeholders and with appropriate reports
- Ensure that business decisions contribute to improving sustainability in all phases of the building’s life cycle: acquisition, development, operation and sale
- Identify explicit objectives to improve sustainability performance
- Set clear goals and measure improvements
- Strive to innovate the real estate sector and to continuously raise the level of ESG performance
Innovation
COIMA SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION COMMITTEE
COIMA RES is an integral part of the Sustainable Innovation Committee of the COIMA platform, created in 2017 with the aim of promoting, systematise, developing and advancing themes related to sustainability within the COIMA platform. This committee is set up at COIMA Group level to promote and monitor a strategic vision which underlines every investment, redevelopment or development project, and assets operational and management phase.
Those committed to integrating ESG criteria into their strategy can generate sustainable profits over time and, consequently, lasting value for all stakeholders. This allows for more efficient management of financial, environmental, and social risks that can negatively impact individual investments’ value retention. Identifying and managing environmental and social risks is part of an asset manager’s fiduciary duty to protect the value of their investors’ assets over time. Our mission is to create long-term value for our investors and the social communities in which we operate through continuous attention to:
• Asset key features
• Quality of developed and managed works
• Constant risk management
• Creating environmental and social benefits in addition to market financial returns
Our approach to responsible investment and real estate development and management is based on integrating sustainability criteria into the investment strategy. This creates highquality real estate assets with sustainable long-term growth and favouring assets with highvalue potential. COIMA integrates the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations, believing that it can contribute to eight of the 17 SDGs, initiating innovation processes, focusing on people and the management of natural and other resources.
COIMA SGR
Stefano
Corbella
SecretaryCorbella
COIMA REM
Sustainability Officer
Fulvio
Di Gilio
Chief Di Gilio
Financial Officer
THE EUROPEAN REAL ESTATE “THINK TANK”
During 2017, COIMA RES contributed to the creation of a European “Think Tank”
in collaboration with five of the most important listed real estate companies (alstria,
Colonial, Gecina, Great Portland Estates and NSI). During 2019, the Scandinavian real
estate company Castellum, leader in sustainability practices, joined the European Think
Tank.
The purpose of the Think Tank is to create a common platform of skills by sharing
best practices in terms of sustainability and innovation and related research in the
German, Italian, Spanish, French, British, Dutch and Nordic real estate markets.
In the last three years, the Think Tank intensified its activities and focused on the discussion of
issues related to sustainability and innovation and on how the context of real estate and
urban development is rapidly changing.
OFFICE SPACE: THE FIRST “FOCUS GROUP” SURVEY IN EUROPE
COIMA has performed a survey between October and January 2021 with a pool of corporates having an office footprint in Italy, and in particular, Milan.
The survey has allowed us to gather direct feedback from tenants on the likely medium-term outlook for the office product taking into consideration the disruption brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The publication of the key findings from this corporate survey follows the release of our initial “The Future of Offices” report published in October 2020. In that first report, we had put forward several initial and preliminary considerations on the likely impact of an accelerated adoption of remote working on office space demand (both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view).
The main drivers that emerged in the survey were:
Social
the role of the office will evolve to respond to workers’ needs to meet, collaborate, socialise and feel satisfied by work
Environmental:
in the future, employees will be much more demanding and much more critical in terms of what a potential employer will do to tackle climate change
Technological:
Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, robotics, hyper-connectivity will influence the way people work and connect and the organization within companies
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
The COIMA RES Sustainability Report is aligned with the “European Public Real Estate Association’s Sustainability Best Practice Reporting guidelines” (EPRA sBPR) - updated September 2017 - and is also inspired by the GRI Standards published by the Global Reporting Initiative in 2016. The contents of the Sustainability Report have been prepared following the reporting principles referred to in the applied guidelines and using the so-called materiality principle to identify the main topics to be included.