Clarion Partners Details Deepening Environmental, Social and Governance Commitments in New Corporate Social Responsibility Report
By David Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Clarion Partners
Clarion Partners realizes it’s possible to ensure a more sustainable future while delivering value to our clients and tenants. At the same time, we know that affecting change at the property level requires us to start from within.
Over the past year, we’ve focused on greater firm-wide participation in ESG-related programs that increased data coverage, improved the efficiency and performance of all asset types, and broadened property and tenant engagement. Our newly published corporate social responsibility (CSR) report details how we continue to deepen our environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.
Green Building Certifications
Third-party green building certifications are a viable way to showcase properties' sustainability performance and attain recognition for excellence in sustainable operations. We proudly added our first six Fitwel certifications by implementing health- and performance-focused strategies for five multi-family properties and one office property. We’re one of two real estate managers to achieve a record number of Fitwel certifications last year, according to the Center for Active Design and Fitwel, a system for optimizing building design and operations.
Reductions in Energy, Water and Greenhouse Gases
All three of Clarion’s open-end funds participate in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), earning the Green Star designation, which recognizes high scores on both the Management & Policy and Implementation & Measurement aspects of the assessment.
We publicly report energy, water and greenhouse gas emissions for these funds in order to monitor progress toward our long-term goals.
We’ve set the following performance targets that we expect to achieve by 2026:
- 20% reduction in total energy use;
- 20% decrease in total water use; and
- 20% decline in total greenhouse gas emissions.
We’re in the process of conducting a waste survey for all property types to establish a baseline for waste tracking and reporting.
United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment
We have signed the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the leading global network for investors committed to incorporating ESG considerations into their investment philosophies. Signatories agree to contribute to the development of a more sustainable global financial system.
For the second year in a row, Clarion received the highest score of A+ on the strategy and governance module, and an A on the property module for the 2018 PRI assessment, exemplifying excellence in responsible investing.
We’re proud to be a leader in sustainable real estate, but we realize CSR is about so much more. Our CSR report details the significant initiatives we’ve undertaken to meet leading-edge diversity, equal opportunity, governance and social responsibility objectives in addition to our environmental achievements. To learn more, please see the full report here.
David Gilbert is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Clarion Partners, a subsidiary of Legg Mason. His opinions are not meant to be viewed as investment advice or a solicitation for investment.
About Legg Mason
Guided by a mission of Investing to Improve Lives™, Legg Mason helps investors globally achieve better financial outcomes by expanding choice across investment strategies, vehicles and investor access through independent investment managers with diverse expertise in equity, fixed income, alternative and liquidity investments. Legg Mason’s assets under management are $781 billion as of July 31, 2019. To learn more, visit our website, our newsroom, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.
