Ghelamco Poland has become the first real estate company in Poland to join the international Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative, which supports the most ambitious companies in the fight against global warming in line with the Paris Agreement. This is another important element of the developer’s ESG strategy.
The Science Based Targets initiative is a joint project of the United Nations Global Compact, CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature). The initiative was established in 2015 to help the most ambitious companies, leaders in their respective industries, to define greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in line with climate science and the Paris Agreement. SBTi’s activities are based on scientific knowledge and promote best practices in decarbonizing companies and reducing the Earth’s average temperature increase.
As a leader in the commercial real estate market in Poland, we set the most ambitious goals in the ESG area. We are the first real estate company in Poland and one of only 15 companies in the country to join this honorable initiative under the auspices of the most trusted international institutions. Above all, however, it is a manifestation of our sense of responsibility for the common good, which is the environment and our planet,” says Jaroslaw Zagorski, commercial and development director of Ghelamco Poland.
This is another important step in the implementation of our ESG strategy. By joining the Science Based Targets initiative, we will be able to work even more effectively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming, with major international organizations among our allies. By 2025, we also want to achieve energy neutrality, taking full advantage of the potential of the clean energy we will produce ourselves on our photovoltaic farms,” says Jaroslaw Fiutowski, board member responsible for ESG strategy and innovation at Ghelamco Poland.
Currently, already more than 4,000 companies around the world, global leaders in sectors such as construction, real estate, energy and transportation, among others, are cooperating with the Science Based Targets initiative. Ghelamco Poland is one of 15 companies that took part in the program on the Polish market and the only one from the real estate sector. Companies operating in Poland participating in the program include Allegro, Bank Ochrony Środowiska, Eurocash, InPost and mBank.
In spring 2022, Ghelamco became the first developer in Poland to announce a groundbreaking project to build photovoltaic farms with a total capacity of 10 MW. As part of its ESG strategy, the company aims to power entire office buildings, ongoing developments and its own office space with energy produced from renewable sources. By 2025, Ghelamco as a company wants to achieve energy neutrality.
The first building to be powered entirely by clean electricity will be the more than 200-square-meter Warsaw UNIT. By using renewable energy, the office building’s life-cycle CO2 emissions will be reduced by more than 50%, and in terms of utility consumption by as much as over 70%. The Ghelamco building is already one of the greenest skyscrapers in this part of Europe, the first in Poland with a BREEAM certificate at the highest Outstanding level. Every day, 40,000 sensors and 800 meters within the state-of-the-art BEMS system take care of optimizing energy consumption at Warsaw UNIT. Thanks to this and many other technological solutions, its average consumption is nearly 30% lower than in comparable high-rise buildings of its type.
