Residential Real Estate – That’s Us
Responsible Investments
To Assure Sustainability and Greater Good
d.i.i. benefits from years of experience in expanding ESG criteria
Sustainability and thus the application of ESG criteria are now more than ever of central importance for real estate companies as well as investors and will continue to gain further in relevance. The d.i.i. group has been taking an active approach of dealing with issues such as energy efficiency and dealing in a fair way with tenants for many years.
To this end, d.i.i. has given itself a social charter containing guidelines for compliance with social, ecological and sustainable obligations in the course of investing and managing residential real estate. With regards to the ESG disclosure regulation of the EU, which will come into force on March 10, 2021, the d.i.i. extends their previous activities in order to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the factors environmental, social and governance at every level.
- In addition to the commitment to energy efficiency and CO2 neutrality in project developments and investment processes, d.i.i. above all focusses on the fair treatment of tenants. Besides transparent communication, sustainable development of the district and the renouncement of luxury modernizations, d.i.i. provides an actively operated ancillary cost management.
- The successful ESG strategy of d.i.i. Group also includes the introduction of a code for responsible corporate governance and internationally recognized standards for due diligence towards employees as part of comprehensive compliance guidelines. Only in this way can sustainability be lived internally and externally at company level.
The d.i.i. Group has firmly embedded sustainability aspects into its investment process. In order to ensure seamless control and coordination of our sustainability measures, and to be able to react to any changes in the regulatory framework as quickly as possible, the d.i.i. Group set up its own ESG Committee.
In this committee, which is convened once a quarter, senior members of the various corporate divisions keep refining the sustainability strategy of the d.i.i. Group, define the investment strategy under ESG aspects, and discuss the latest issues. The objective is to work out recommendations for action early on, and to implement them within the company as swiftly as possible.
Whenever a sudden turn of events necessitates an instant response, the committee will meet in special session in order to address the changing situation immediately, and to do justice to the special significance of sustainability.
The ESG Committee is represented by:
- Dirk Hasselbring (Managing Director, d.i.i. Investment GmbH)
- Dominik Schott (Member of the Board of Directors, d.i.i. Deutsche Invest Immobilien AG)
- Oskar Droszkowski (Teamleader ESG-Management, d.i.i. Deutsche Invest Immobilien AG)
Company level - current state
The Disclosure Regulation defines the key term “sustainability risk” as an event or a condition in the areas of environment, social affairs or company management, whose occurrence actually or potentially could have negative implications for the value of the investment. You can find our current strategy for the inclusion of sustainability risks in our company here:
Office location with convenient transport connections at WI central railway station
Co2-neutral power supply in the office
Currently 20% working time in the home office possible
JobTicket offer
Subsidisation of hybrid/e-cars/new drive technologies for company cars
Digitalisation strategy to promote paperless working and mobile working
Green electricity for employees at reasonable d.i.i. conditions
Continuous planting of all land that is acquired for dii funds and mandates
Compliance with central employment rights, e.g. non-discrimination requirement
High standards with occupational safety and health protection
Fair conditions at the workplace, flexible working hours, appropriate remuneration, as well as training and advanced training opportunities
Provision of trainee and/or training places each year
Corporate benefits programme
Increased holidays
Fund investment by the employees & occupational old-age pension scheme
Employee loans
Vitality days
Holiday programmes for children
Support of the “Bärenherz” hospice in Wiesbaden
- Observance of sustainability issue at the management/Management Board and Supervisory Board level
- The Compliance Policy is an integral part of every employment contract
- Business partner compliance and code of conduct for business partners
- “Zero-tolerance strategy” for compliance violations
- Employee development programme
- Promotion of female management staff across all management levels (management, head level, team leader level)
- Promotion of heterogeneity (origin, gender, age) in teams
Co2-neutral power supply of offices
Increase of home office working hours from currently approx. 20% to 40% by 2023
Number of JobTickets to be increased by a minimum of 10 per year
By 2025, 30% of all company cars will be hybrid/e-cars/new drive technologies
Reduction of kilometres driven / petrol consumption
Annual reduction of the printouts per head by 5% per annum
Green electricity for employees at reasonable d.i.i. conditions (constantly increase the number of employees who switch)
Compliance with central employment rights, e.g. non-discrimination requirement
High standards with occupational safety and health protection
Fair conditions at the workplace, flexible working hours, appropriate remuneration, as well as training and advanced training opportunities
Provision of trainee and/or training places each year
Corporate benefits programme
Increased holidays
Fund investment by the employees & occupational old-age pension scheme
Employee loans for wealth creation
Vitality days
Holiday programmes for children
- Observance of sustainability issue at the management/Management Board and Supervisory Board level
- The Compliance Policy is an integral part of every employment contract
- Business partner compliance and code of conduct for business partners
- Assessment of the implementation of the dii ESG strategy and compliance rules of conduct in annual employee appraisals
- Employee development programme
- Increase of the proportion of female management staff by 2025 to 35% across all management levels (management, head level, team leader level)
- Promotion of heterogeneity (origin, gender, age) in teams
Remuner ation Policy
Remuneration Policy of d.i.i. Investment GmbH
ESG
d.i.i. 15 and d.i.i. 41 – Special AIF
Properties from the middle housing segment in Germany exclusively come into question as fund properties. Luxury properties do not fit into the investment spectrum of the fund. After a property has run through the investment process in which sustainability criteria are firmly anchored and were able to be acquired for the fund, the detailed planning begins of the investment expenditures and the decision regarding which measures should be implemented for the holding period of each property. The crucial parameters for sustainable capex planning are the living quality, the living space comfort and the living space and energy efficiency.
As the energy requirement of each property is identified and analysed upon acquisition, the strategy at the property level is to achieve energetic modernisations or measures for improving the energy balance of the property at a maximum of 200 kWh/m2. We regard energetic measures as renovations and modernisations, which serve to reduce the energy consumption of a building. In order to achieve this goal, the property is first analysed comprehensively and structural defects and potential savings in consumption are determined. Therefore, older properties can be developed to reach the state of a new-build, within the meaning of the Energy-Saving Regulation. For example, these include efficient thermal insulation, the installation of modern thermal glazing, the modernisation of sanitary facilities and the use of heating systems that are technically up-to-date. Thereupon, an individual plan of measures is drawn up for each individual building, which even allows significantly better values than 200 kWh/m2 to be achieved for parts of the portfolio.
Additional measures aim to improve the living quality. Outside areas are designed in a friendly and inviting manner and are continuously managed. Wherever possible, the planting is expanded. A part of the strategy is to create additional living space wherever possible. If acquired plots of land allow the construction of new residential buildings or if properties can be enlarged, new living space, which is urgently needed, particularly in conurbations, is created through constant densification.
As the AIF primarily acquires rental properties, the dii Group has imposed a specific social charter, which regulates respectful and sustainable treatment of the tenants. In the social charter, the guidelines and principles are listed, which are intended to ensure compliance with social, ecological and sustainable obligations within the scope of investment and management of residential properties. These include enhanced eviction protection for older or physically impaired existing tenants, hardship provisions for low-income tenants, a lifelong living guarantee or the intention to continuously increase the proportion of accessible and age-appropriate homes through investments within the scope of vacant property redevelopments. Active incidental cost management, transparent communication, sustainable district development and the exclusion of luxury modernisations are also part of the social charter.