Welcome Message from the Chairman
Welcome to Investa's fifth Sustainability Report, our second produced expressly for online access.
Last year's report was published online to reduce cost and environmental impact and to improve accessibility for our stakeholders. This year's report retains the same commitment to balance, accuracy, clarity, completeness, reliability and comparability, but it aims to be even more accessible.
For the first time we have structured our content around sustainability themes rather than business units. This has simplified the format and also highlighted some of the interrelationships that exist between various parts of the Group. Our focus on sustainability is wedded to our strategy for building value over the long term: it provides a thread that we use to pull our various entities together.
We once again achieved excellent results across the office portfolio. Compared to 2003/04, electricity use per square metre was down 20%, natural gas use was down 41% and water consumption was down 33%. These results have helped deliver better building performance ratings and better tenant relationships. Our weighted average Australian Building Greenhouse Rating improved to 3.96 stars (out of five) and Investa now has 16 properties rated at 4.5 stars or higher.
We also made considerable progress integrating sustainability throughout our development and funds management businesses. Our two principal external funds, IDOF and ICPF, became independently accredited ethical (SRI) funds during the period – the first property funds to achieve this status anywhere in the world.
Our leadership was widely recognised throughout the year. We were the leading company on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) both for Real Estate and the Financial Services supersector; we were included in the Global 100 (G100) list of the world's most sustainable corporations; and Citigroup's 'Climate Change and the ASX 100' report placed Investa at the top of the list of companies well prepared for near-term climate change.
Financial Year 2007 produced many highlights on the sustainability front for Investa. I encourage you to explore this report, and in particular the 'highlights' and 'group approach' sections, to see the relevance of sustainability to the Group and our strategy.
Rei Umekubo
28 September, 2007
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