is a top priority at LIP Invest. We commit ourselves to protect the environment and conserve natural resources. Therefore we have integrated sustainability criteria and the standard implementation of an ESG due diligence in our purchase process. We measure the sustainability of our portfolios and provide an annual ESG-reporting.
All our funds are pursuing an ESG approach, so our investments take ecological and social aspects as well as good corporate governance into account.
As part of our strategy, we ensure that we maintain a balance between the requirements of the environment, our tenants, investors and partners along with our employees.
Our corporate culture is characterized by partnership, professionalism and transparency. These complied values reflect our understanding of responsibility.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. ESG-compliant investments accordingly are in harmony with the environment, the society and a good corporate governance. All three aspects include various criteria, which must be considered in an integrated sustainability concept.
In real estate investments sustainability can be stipulated on different levels: on corporate level of the asset manager, on fund level and on property level. To fully integrate the sustainability concept, various measures and control parameters must be implemented in the individual areas.
Each decision of our investment managers has environmental, social and economic implications. Sustainability aspects are part of our risk and opportunity assessment in investment and asset management. All our activities aim to generate added value for our investors and actively help shaping positive change at the same time. Our investment strategies focus on taking ESG-criteria into account. We are convinced that our investors do not have to choose between an attractive yield or the sustainability of their investments.
We take a universal approach to sustainability and are therefore committed to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. We strive in particular to promote "Health & Wellbeing", "Gender Equality", "Decent Work & Economic Growth" and "Climate Action".
To address the latter point in particular, LIP Invest has set itself long-term goals to improve ESG performance of fund portfolios in the future. We aim to increase the use of renewable energies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote biodiversity.
Furthermore, we have set ourselves the following goals to advance sustainability efforts at the corporate level:
Our ESG report gives an account about LIP Invest's social, environmental and governance-related activities. Credible and transparent communication ensures trust and defines binding targets for the future. As part of our annual ESG reporting, investors as well as other stakeholders are therefore informed about the sustainability measures on company, fund and asset level.
Our funds are committed to achieve their financial objective while obtaining market-leading sustainability standards on asset and fund level. We aim to manage funds with leading sustainability qualities for the asset class logistics.
We have defined high sustainability requirements for our funds. They preserve against potential profit cuts by offering resilience to stricter regulatory requirements, erratic operating costs and changing expectations of users and future buyers.
The ESG obligations of our funds are assigned in the sustainability guidelines.
The GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) rating system measures the ESG performance on portfolio level. The system considers extensive information on the management of the company, the fund and the real estates such as strategy, guidelines and processes as well as energy consumption, tenants, etc. Based on the results, specific action schedules can be established.
We previously participated in the GRESB rating in 2020 with our first fund. The assessment of ESG performance is to be established in standard for all further funds. To measure the progress continuously an annual update is planned.
The individual property is the base for the sustainability assessment of a portfolio. ESG standards must be considered over the entire process of a property, starting with the estate selection and active asset management through to the sale.
The implementation of sustainability measures can help to reduce the incidentals for the tenant and thus improve the ability to re-rent. In addition, the value of the real estate increases along with the competitive position regarding a sale.
As part of the acquisition process at LIP, an ESG Due Diligence is performed by a service provider for each acquisition object.
The following criteria are checked during that process:
