Sponda targets carbon neutrality by 2025
Sponda Ltd Press Release 17 February 2023, 12:15 p.m.
Sponda targets carbon neutrality by 2025
Sponda, one of Finland’s leading real estate asset management companies, has announced that it plans to achieve full carbon neutrality for energy consumption across its portfolio by 2025, five years earlier than originally planned. Sponda is one of the first commercial property owners in Finland to target to such an ambitious timeline.
The new carbon neutrality target will be supported, in part, by Sponda’s 2030 energy efficiency programme, which includes an interim target to reduce energy consumption by 12% by 2025 compared to an averaged 2016-2018 baseline. Sponda is already ahead of schedule to achieve this goal and succeeded in reducing energy consumption by 9.1% in 2022. Renewable energy production will also significantly increase through the development of new solar power plants and expansion of renewable heating across the portfolio.
The ambitious carbon neutrality target forms part of Sponda’s new sustainability programme for 2023-2025, which includes new commitments that support biodiversity, circular economy, community engagement and energy efficiency, as well as a range of other areas.
Sponda’s revised target follows the announcement in October 2022 that the company has been ranked as a 2022 global sector leader among the real estate companies in the global GRESB Real Estate Assessment (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark).
“High standards of environmental performance are a central part of our business and we are proud to be tracking ahead of schedule against our energy efficiency and climate targets. However, we feel that we can do better and therefore wanted to challenge ourselves and our stakeholders to be bolder in our ambitions. Being selected as one of the world’s five most responsible real estate owners in our sector in the GRESB Real Estate assessment gives us an opportunity to further encourage and inspire others in the industry to create an emission-free future”, says Christian Hohenthal, CEO of Sponda.
“Zero emissions and energy efficiency are increasingly important values for our customers and supply chain. We plan to increase the amount of our solar power plants in Helsinki city centre, adding to those already operating in Forum and Citycenter. All our shopping centres and a significant proportion of our real estate in central Helsinki are already carbon neutral. We will gradually expand the use of renewable heating in our property portfolio until all remaining properties are carbon neutral by 2025. With the Lakiakangas wind farm agreement, 100% of the electricity consumed in our properties is already produced using emission-free wind power,” says Pirkko Airaksinen, Sponda’s Head of ESG.
Additional information about our new sustainability programme, including our revised carbon neutrality target can be found on Sponda’s website at https://sponda.fi/en/focus-areas-of-sustainability/
Sponda Ltd
Further information:
Anita Riikonen, Marketing and Brand Manager
tel. +358 40 833 3804, anita.riikonen@sponda.fi
Sponda Ltd is a leading real estate asset management company in Finland specialising in owning, managing, developing and letting commercial properties in the largest cities across the country. With a focus on customer-oriented solutions and high-quality properties, Sponda is actively developing best practice in the sector, enhancing the cityscape in a sustainable way and supporting its customers. www.sponda.fi/en.