Future-Proofing Our Assets: Crown’s Commitment to Climate Action and Emissions Reduction

The real estate sector plays a crucial role in global efforts to transition to a low-carbon future as governments implement strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With two-thirds of today's buildings still expected to stand in 2040, substantial retrofits are needed. Crown, leveraging its expertise, is well positioned to lead this transition, benefiting both the environment and our investors.

In 2023, we took the following important steps:  

• Updated decarbonization plans and asset strategy for the Core Fund, by value engineering proposed retrofit projects to include more feasible spending in the context of the investment market, all while still achieving significant GHG emissions reductions (estimated to be 1,725 MTCO2/year, or a 76% reduction).

• Completed decarbonization planning to evaluate carbon reduction pathways for six additional assets totaling 2.0 million sq. ft. across Crown’s Fund portfolio. This represents 32% of total GFA, increasing completed decarbonization plans to span 51% of the Fund Portfolio.

• Continued to include decarbonization planning within the first-year budgeting for any new fund acquisition.

• Continued our partnership with the City of Toronto through our participation in the Green Will Initiative (GWI), aligning our Toronto portfolio with a pathway towards net zero.

• Continued our partnership with the City of Ottawa’s Better Buildings Ottawa program, seeking ways to identify decarbonization strategies and regulations.

In addition to the decarbonization of our Fund portfolio, we are committed to reducing emissions from our corporate activities. We are assessing the carbon footprint from our corporate and property management offices in order to establish an effective emissions reduction strategy, with a plan to release our Climate Action Plan in 2025.

For a deeper dive into our commitment to ensuring the resilience of our assets, we invite you to read our full ESG report here.

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