AREIT Inc., the real estate investment trust (REIT) of property developer Ayala Land Inc., on Thursday said it is on track to become carbon neutral by yearend.
The company said it can neutralize its emissions based on scopes 1 and 2 emissions definition in terms of inventory by the end of the year, and net zero emissions for its existing buildings by the end of 2022.
Scope 1 emissions are greenhouse gas emissions coming from the use of fuel, such as those in generators and vehicles. Scope 2 refers to emissions coming from electricity consumption in common areas controlled by AREIT. Scope 3 refers to other emissions from the company’s value chain.
For AREIT’s building operations, this refers to electricity consumption by its locators.
“As a sustainable REIT, we believe that moving towards net zero carbon operational emissions is the most impactful environmental initiative we can undertake. By using renewable energy in our buildings, we not only achieve AREIT’s ESG [environmental, social, governance] objectives, but also enable our building locators, many of whom are top multinational corporations, to achieve their own ESG standards,” AREIT President and CEO Carol T. Mills said.
The company’s buildings include Solaris One, Ayala North Exchange and McKinley Exchange, all located in Makati, and The 30th Corporate Center in Pasig. Electricity consumption of these properties has shifted to renewable energy sources from coal.
It did not state, however, how it was able to accomplish such conversion.
The company expects to reduce 80 percent of its 10,000 tCO2e (tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) business-as-usual emissions through the use of renewable energy, while the remaining 20 percent will be offset through Ayala Land’s carbon forests or planting of certain number of trees based on its measured carbon emissions.
To promote site resilience, AREIT’s properties were developed to allocate open and green spaces to provide a healthy environment for the community, as well as a place for safety or refuge in the event of emergencies, it said.
Aside from this, the properties also feature district cooling systems, a technology that helps cut electricity consumption by 20 to 35 percent compared to regular cooling systems. Many of AREIT’s buildings are also Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified, such as the Teleperformance building in Cebu, One Evotech in Nuvali and Vertis Corporate Center in Quezon City.
The company said its measured electricity intensity for its buildings in 2020 has improved to 125.48 kilowatt hour per square meter, which is much lower than the Asean benchmark of 160 kWh per square meter.
“With good governance guiding our value creation efforts for shareholders, our entire organization continues to strive for innovation, for exploring new ways to advance sustainably, to improve environmentally, and better adapt to our ever-changing climate,” Mills said.