Tritax Big Box REIT plc (the Company) (ticker: BBOX), a leading investor in and developer of high-quality large scale sustainable logistics real estate in the UK, is pleased to announce that in the 2021 survey by GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) released today the Company has been awarded four Green Stars out of a maximum of five. This compares to the previous three stars awarded to the Company in 2020.
Awarded Leader for Development in the European and Global Industrial Listed Sectors
Awarded 81/100 and Four Green Stars for our Standing Portfolio
Acting sustainably and responsibly is fundamental to our ability to deliver long-term value for shareholders and other stakeholders
Our GRESB 2021 score of 81/100 for the Company’s standing portfolio shows strong improvement against our 2020 GRESB survey score of 72/100 and compares very favourably against the 64/100 average score in 2021 for its peer group.
The Company has also been awarded the GRESB 2021 Leader for Development in the European and Global Industrial Listed Sectors, achieving the highest score for the industrial sector with a score of 97/100 and the maximum of five Green Stars (2020: 91/100, five Green Stars).
The latest GRESB scoring reflects the Company’s strong and increasing focus on ESG to improve further the ESG performance and credentials of the Company both through its investment and development portfolios, with progress achieved by delivering enhanced sustainability initiatives, such as solar PV and sustainable construction practices. The high and improved scoring also recognises the embedding and enhancing of ESG practices by the Company and the Manager, from governance policies and ESG risk assessment through to employee and wider stakeholder engagement. The strong and strengthening tenant engagement also increased this year’s data collection significantly, enabling the Company to enhance measurement and drive further sustainability improvements both now and going forward.
We have further enhanced the Company’s ESG credentials with our debut £250 million green bond issuance in November 2020, the First Sterling Green Bond Issuance by a UK REIT. This is now contributing towards the funding of the Company’s extensive pipeline of new developments that are being built as best-in-class, net zero carbon buildings and which will be BREEAM certified as either “Very Good” or “Excellent.”
We continue to create and implement programmes that further enhance the Company’s ESG credentials over both the short and longer term, supporting the Company’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy and Vision. We recognise the importance of sustainability to our customers, shareholders and the communities around our assets. We firmly believe that a rigorous focus on sustainability will ensure our long-term viability and commercial success, by helping us to make sound decisions in the best interest of all our stakeholders.
We have also improved our ESG performance across important additional ESG ratings, including Sustainalytics, FTSE4Good, ISS Oekom, and achieving an EPRA Gold Award for our ESG disclosures, further demonstrating how we continue to improve the sustainable performance of and reporting by the Company:
- The Company’s FTSE4Good rating has increased to 3.2/5 (2020: 2.3/5), above the average of 3.
- The Company’s Sustainalytics score has improved to 9.0 (Negligible Risk) (2020: 14.6 (Low Risk)), with an improved Management Score of 56.7 (Strong) (2020: 32.7), outperforming all our logistics peers.
- ISS Oekom rated Tritax Big Box REIT as Prime in 2021.
Colin Godfrey, CEO, Tritax Management Ltd, commented:
"I am delighted with the latest improved GRESB scoring for the Tritax Big Box REIT portfolio and our award as leader for development in the GRESB European and Global Industrial Listed Sectors. This follows the launch in November last year of our bold and ambitious vision and strategy for sustainability with a view to being leaders in sustainable logistics. Our strategy is driving improvements in our ESG ratings, demonstrating not only our leadership in ESG, but also how environmental, social and governance matters are an intrinsic part of every element of the Group’s strategy and increasingly embedded in the way the Group operates.
Our significantly oversubscribed £300 million fund raise last month enables us to accelerate our development programme, which is expected to be accretive to earnings, dividend and net asset value per share, in order to capture the unprecedented levels of demand we are seeing in our sector and for the assets we are developing.”
Helen Drury, Sustainability Lead at Tritax Group, said:
“Acting sustainably and responsibly is fundamental to our ability to deliver long-term positive social, environmental and economic change and value for shareholders and other stakeholders. Across our business, portfolio and the wider sector, we continue to work closely with all our stakeholders to deliver ESG programmes and implement our strategy to provide further attractive, long-term outperformance and sustainable value.”
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