Sustainability

DEAS and sustanaible development

Sustainability or ESG, i.e. environmental governance, social responsibility, and good governance are important parts of companies’ strategic planning and management. The sustainability concept is young, and the regulations and practices related to it are still developing into a stable form. The sustainability goals and practices of DEAS and its Finnish funds are described below.

Our vision and promises

The main goal of DEAS Group’s sustainability strategy is to own and manage properties that improve the lives of their users. We promise to use our sustainability strategy’s three focus areas: stakeholder cooperation, social impact, and new innovations, to have a positive impact on society, the environment, and the economy. We are committed to creating a more sustainable future for our investors, tenants, and community. We aim to do this in all three areas of sustainability: environmental issues, social responsibility, and the requirements we set for our company and service providers’ management.

Our sustainability strategy and EU guidance

In our sustainability strategy, we emphasize the following five United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being; Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth; Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

Our sustainability activities are guided by EU directives, regulations, and guidelines: the Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). EU regulations come into force gradually. Real estate funds and other financial products must classify themselves into one of three alternative environmental articles: 6, 8, or 9, according to SFDR from 2023 onwards. DEAS Property Fund Finland 1 Ky (DPFF), which invests in Finland and is led from Finland, is an Article 8-compliant fund.”

DPFF’s main sustainability goal is to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the fund’s properties. Since over 3/4 of the CO₂ emissions from buildings come from their electricity and heat consumption, DPFF aims to reduce the energy consumption of its properties and gradually abandon the use of fossil fuels. DPFF belongs to the Energy Efficiency Agreement for the Real Estate Sector, which is valid until 2025. According to the agreement, the minimum target is to reduce the combined energy consumption of the contractual properties by 7.5% between the beginning of 2017 and the end of 2025. DPFF’s properties, except for two, use district heating. These two properties using natural gas and oil will switch from coal-based fuels to geothermal heat by the end of 2027.

DPFF’s properties have a total of 10 solar power plants and one geothermal power plant. Most of the fund’s properties have already switched to LED lighting. In the rest, the transition will take place in the next few years. The combined power of the fund’s solar power plants is 750 kWp, which means an annual electricity production of approximately 640 MWh. The energy certificates of the fund’s properties are from 2022. The fund will prepare a comprehensive sustainability plan for its properties based on the national carbon neutrality 2035 target during 2024.

The recycling rate of the DPFF properties under landlord’s waste management responsibility, has been and will be increased. The aim is to minimise the amount of mixed waste that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burnt.

DEAS has also paid attention to social responsibility and good governance. In DPFF’s office properties with multiple tenants, shared shower and bicycle storage facilities have been provided for tenants’ employees who commute by running or cycling. A fully equipped shared gym has also been built at Vantaan Kalliosolantie 2.

The gender distribution of DEAS staff is exceptional in the real estate industry. Both DEAS AM Finland’s board and management and DPFF’s fund team have half or more women. DPFF fund is socially responsible through its beneficiaries. The majority of the fund’s investors are Finnish pension insurance companies serving large segments of the population. The return achieved by the fund benefits many Finns in the form of pensions.