QuadReal Property Group Pledges 50% Emissions Cut by 2030

QuadReal Property Group, the Vancouver-based real estate arm of the British Columbia Investment Management Corp.—with $67B of AUM globally—is speeding up its plans to decarbonize the buildings in its Canadian portfolio.

QuadReal has announced a goal of achieving a 50% reduction in carbon emissions in the portfolio by 2030. The company aims to achieve net-zero emissions in its Canadian holdings by 2040, and across its entire global portfolio by 2050.

QuadReal is beginning a series of “carbon audits” tied to a target to have property-level transition plans in place for its global portfolio by 2025.

The company expects the major share of emissions reductions in the next eight years to come from a combination of electrification of fossil-fuel burning building systems and building efficiency upgrades, with carbon credits and offsets applied to cover a maximum of 10% of baseline emissions.

The carbon audits will align with scopes one, two and three of international greenhouse gas protocols, accounting for direct, indirect and “embodied” emissions from buildings. Emissions tracked by the audits will include tenant utilities and embodied carbon from new development and refurbished projects.

“Our pathway to net zero includes very specific interim targets to help inform next steps at the property level and will be applied to all the real estate we manage,” said Jamie Gray-Donald, QuadReal’s senior VP for sustainability, environment, health and safety, in a statement.

“We also are committed to being transparent in our approach and measurement tools so we can help lead the real estate industry in the transition to a net-zero economy,” Gray-Donald said.

QuadReal owns and manages about 39M SF of office, retail and industrial property in its Canadian portfolio, as well as 12K units of multifamily housing.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Standard, created by the World Resources Institute, classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three “scopes.”

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources; Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy; Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions.

From its base in Canada as a full-service real estate operating company, QuadReal invests in equity and debt in both the public and private markets. QuadReal invests directly, via programmatic partnerships and through operating companies in which it holds an ownership interest.

QuadReal’s debt investment portfolio is targeted to fixed-term, construction or mezzanine borrowers with assets or developments in Canada and the US. QuadReal also offers in-house mortgage servicing.