Sustainability strategy | Sustainability

Our sustainability strategy

Sustainable together. With good reason.

Sustainability has been firmly integrated at Deka Immobilien for years and is reflected in our daily actions. Embedded in the Deka Group's sustainability strategy, Deka Immobilien has developed its own sustainability strategy based on the principle “Sustainable together. With good reason" principle. As the Deka Group's real estate specialist, we aim to be one of the leading providers of sustainable open-ended real estate funds. In doing so, we attach great importance to sustainable standards and take our responsibility towards future generations seriously. Our mission as a trustee is also to manage our investors' funds within an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable business profile.

Limiting global warming has become one of the most important challenges. With well approx. 600 properties worldwide, we can make a major contribution towards creating a sustainable environment. That is why we are continuously strengthening our efforts and activities in the area of environmental protection. We mobilise our innovative strength to achieve our sustainability goals: reduce our ecological footprint and reach climate neutrality by 2050.

As a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), we are convinced that including provisions regarding the environment (environmental and climate protection), social commitment and governance (responsible corporate governance) - in short: ESG – contributes to positive long-term value for our customers. Our actions are guided by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030, and we align our measures with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Let us show you how we, as the Deka Group's real estate specialist, tackle this challenge.

Building on these principles, we defined the following environmental goals for our actions at Deka Immobilien:

Climate neutral by 2050	In line with the Paris Climate Agreement, our aim is to limit global warming to below 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels and to achieve climate neutrality for all our business activities and our entire portfolio by 2050. In relation to our portfolio, this means that we continuously measure and validate the CO₂emissions and energy consumption of the individual properties and take appropriate measures to reduce consumption and emissions at an early stage.
Expansion of sustainable product ranges	The objective is to sell a majority of sustainable products (measured by total assets) by the end of 2021. We will also report on their degree of taxonomy compliance and continuously increase this share until 2030.
Maintaining our certification strategy	We have been pursuing a certification strategy for our existing buildings since 2010. The certifications allow us to continuously identify optimisation potential in and on our properties and to consistently incorporate this into our action planning. The results are impressive: We today have one of the highest certification rates (in relation to market value) in the market. However, we are not resting on our laurels, but are consistently pursuing our certification strategy.
Inclusion of green leases in rental and lease agreements	In order to bring about a sustainable change in building operations, green clauses in rental and lease agreements are becoming increasingly important. At Deka, we have integrated green lease criteria as optional clauses in the annexes to our standard leases and discuss them with tenants during lease negotiations. The aim is to open the dialogue with our tenants about sustainability aspects.
Improving energy efficiency	We continuously work on implementing structural measures to improve energy efficiency in building operations. For example, energy efficiency measures for suitable portfolio properties must be continuously analysed and, if necessary, implemented to reduce consumption levels and thus the CO2 emissions in the properties.

We implement these values in everyday life through the following measures:

Sustainable human resources management	As an employer, Deka offers a wide range of options for promoting and retaining employees, for balancing work and family life through part-time models, home office options, nursery and kindergarten places and fitness offers. An example is our Employee Assistance Programme that supports our employees in the event of unexpected changes in their environment. Another newly created option since 2019 is bicycle leasing. We thus actively contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of our business operations and promote the health of our employees through exercise. Find out more about Deka as an employer here.
Social responsibility	Social responsibility lies particularly close to our hearts at Deka and is promoted in numerous activities and projects. The International Highrise Award, the House of Finance endowed professorship for Sustainable Asset Management, support for the Arche Frankfurt, the “Deka -Engagiert vor Ort” campaign, the “Rest Cent” campaign, DekaBank's art collection partnering with the Museum of Modern Art (MMK) and sponsoring the National Youth Orchestra are just a few examples of how the Deka Group is involved. We intend to expand our commitment in the future and continue to support numerous social projects. Find out more about our social responsibility here.
Knowledge building and transfer regarding sustainability	We strengthen the continuous development and knowledge transfer on sustainable issues and possible solutions through our determined participation in association activities and intensive exchanges within the sector. Through our active involvement in the German Investment Funds Association (BVI) and the German Property Federation (ZIA) as well as close exchanges among experts, our aim is to broaden knowledge and develop co-design of binding standards. In this way, our own know-how contributes in answering complex questions in the interest of market participants. Innovative methods and measures (such as energy-efficient plant technology, sensor technology, energy and environmental management systems, ecological and resource-saving building materials) are particularly relevant here and should be continuously stimulated and evaluated for their usability. The fundamental goal is to increase the understanding of sustainability as a relevant topic for the real estate sector. We also engage as speakers at conferences and contribute to industry studies.

Within our sustainability strategy, we take the following measures regarding governance:

Further development of risk controlling processes	We will continuously and proactively develop our proven risk management, controlling and reporting processes to meet sustainability requirements. This also applies to the requirements to identify, manage and limit direct climate risks for our portfolios, based on the available information.
Improving transparency	Improving transparency is indispensable for achieving our goals and ranks as our most urgent challenge. We have therefore defined the goal to successively improve and digitalise the data basis, related to final energy consumption and CO2 emissions. For us, creating transparency also involves surveying our special investments’ CO2 footprint.
Sustainability report	As an active member of the German Investment Funds Association (BVI) and the German Property Federation (ZIA), we welcome and support the efforts for more transparency and sustainability in the real estate sector. We regularly document our progress in implementing our sustainability activities in our real estate funds’ accountability reports. They are included in Deka Bank's annual sustainability report. Read more about our activities in the current sustainability report.
Self-monitoring	We constantly self-monitor and self-review our compliance with our good corporate governance principles and values through various instruments. This creates a high degree of transparency. We achieve this through functional management and monitoring structures, the targeted cooperation of management and supervision, transparency in the organisation as well as in internal and external corporate communication, and the appropriate handling of risks. To ensure we comply with our principles, we have implemented a range of measures: • the complementary composition of the supervisory board with two members who are independent of the Group, • the establishment of an ombudsman, • a functioning risk management system, • the guarantee of investor protection through clear separation of functions within responsibilities.
Investor satisfaction and stakeholder interests	To safeguard the interests of various stakeholders, our management decisions are geared towards long-term value creation to the satisfaction of our partners, especially investors. Investors in our investment funds, for example, are regularly informed about the performance of their funds on the basis of one of the highest transparency standards in the industry: open-ended real estate funds.

BVI Code of Conduct

To protect fund investors, the central federation of the investment fund sector, BVI, launched the BVI Code of Conduct in 2003 in cooperation with its members. In 2012, the BVI members agreed on “Guidelines for Responsible Investment”. These guidelines have since become part of the BVI Code of Conduct.

The BVI Code of Conduct sets voluntary standards that go beyond the legal obligations for fund managers. It includes their role as trustees, which places particularly high demands on conduct towards investors. We - the investment management companies Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH and WestInvest Gesellschaft für Investmentfonds mbH - have undertaken to comply with the Code of Conduct of the German Investment Funds Association (BVI). The Code of Conduct is available here.