Sustainability goals and roadmap

Swiss Prime Site sets itself long-term goals. When doing so, it is guided by national and international frameworks, such as the Energy Strategy 2050, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Sustainability management is focused on the material issues defined during the 2019 materiality process.

From these, Swiss Prime Site derives a sustainability roadmap, which includes responsibilities, short- and medium-term goals and corresponding implementation measures. This roadmap forms an integral part of the annual business-plan process. The roadmap is structured according to the six capitals of the «integrated reporting» approach. On the basis of this roadmap, Swiss Prime Site assesses the achievement of goals and defines additional measures if they are not met.

Sustainability goals are set across the six capitals, both at group level and for the individual group companies. Whereas the group’s overarching goals are described for all six dimensions, the main focus at the operational level for 2018 and 2019 was on the working environment, digitalisation and raising energy-efficiency levels in the group’s operations and its property portfolio.

Our achievements in 2018/2019

Stakeholders

Following on from Swiss Prime Site’s first stakeholder panel in 2017, a second panel was held on the topics of «urbanisation» and «intergenerationality». Among other things, the discussions with external stakeholders and experts served as input for revising the Swiss Prime Site materiality matrix.

Finance

Reporting on climate-related financial risks was introduced in accordance with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Infrastructure

Swiss Prime Site standardised the requirements for applying Building Information Modelling (BIM) to all new developments.

Innovation

Swiss Prime Site organised interdisciplinary workshops on megatrends and future-relevant issues. In 2019, these included climate change and changing social values. The aim was to develop specific ideas and to establish innovative thinking in the corporate culture.

Ecology

In addition to extending the carbon accounting concept, Swiss Prime Site developed a wide-reaching CO₂ reduction pathway for the entire property portfolio.

Employees

The group-wide trainee programme was successfully introduced. It will give talented youngsters an insight into the diverse areas of activity at Swiss Prime Site and strengthen the employer brand.

The overview shows that the majority of the defined goals were met. However, the requirement for all employees to recommit to the Code of Conduct was not implemented. Instead, new employees were given a presentation on the Code of Conduct within the context of the Welcome Days.

There is further need for improvement with regard to implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) for new development projects and reducing the turnover rate. Corresponding goals for 2020 were set during the reporting year. The data-protection concept was introduced as planned – a detailed evaluation of its functional adequacy is scheduled for 2020. To further reduce the impact on the environment, for 2020 Swiss Prime Site is aiming to cut revenue-related CO₂ emissions by at least 5%. Furthermore, initial discussions will be held in 2020 on how to certify the entire Swiss Prime Site Group according to ESG criteria from 2021 onwards. The Company fell far short of its goal of reducing the turnover rate to below 18%. Swiss Prime Site will therefore endeavour in 2020 to reduce the turnover rate to below 20%, which is still an ambitious goal.