CapitaLand eyes 100% green certification of enlarged portfolio by 2030

PROPERTY giant CapitaLand is stepping up its sustainability goals as it works towards legal completion of its purchase of business space provider Ascendas-Singbridge by the end of June.

It has set a target to achieve 100 per cent green certification of its enlarged global portfolio by 2030, and to have at least 20 per cent energy consumption come from renewable energy for the extended group by 2025, president and group chief executive Lee Chee Koon revealed in the group's 10th sustainability report published on Wednesday.

At the end of 2018, before it announced its intention to purchase Ascendas-Singbridge, CapitaLand achieved green certifications for 70 per cent of its properties on a square metre basis.

Those two goals are in line with a broader aim to have CapitaLand's carbon emission targets approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative, a global effort to get companies to specify based on science how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement commitment to limit global warming by up to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Some other goals outlined by Mr Lee include seeking out more sustainability-linked and green financial instruments and having "significant" reductions from 2020 of single-use plastics and paper consumption. It will also extend its zero-tolerance policy on corruption and bribery for the enlarged group.

Noting that CapitaLand was one of the first companies in Singapore 10 years ago to voluntarily publish its Global Sustainability Report, Mr Lee wrote: "At CapitaLand, we recognise that the long-term success of our business is closely intertwined with the health and prosperity of the communities we operate in. We firmly believe in doing good and doing right, as we do well, and will continue to place sustainability as an integral part of CapitaLand's global business."

The group is a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact's commitment, and supports both the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure.

Some other sustainability-related achievements by CapitaLand in 2018 include achieving over S$170 million in utilities cost avoidance since 2009, and reducing energy intensity and water intensity by 17.6 per cent and 20.9 per cent respectively, on a square metre basis, for its operational properties.

Since 2008, the group has already lowered its carbon emission intensity by 29.8 per cent, surpassing its 2020 target of 23 per cent.

Last year, CapitaLand inked Asia's first and largest real estate sustainability-linked loan with DBS.

CapitaLand closed unchanged on Wednesday at S$3.29 before the announcement.