OP Real Estate Asset Management to engage in Net Zero Carbon Buildings commitment
16.12.2020
OP Real Estate Asset Management has signed the Net Zero Carbon Buildings zero carbon commitment of the World Green Building Council organisation. The signatories of the commitment aim towards reaching the carbon neutral user of energy in real estate by 2030. In honour of the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement on 12 December, the World Green Building Council will announce a host of new real estate actors who will join in the commitment, and OP Real Estate Asset Management is one of the new signatories. OP Real Estate Asset Management is the commitment’s thirteenth signatory from Finland, and there are altogether 128 signatories from all over the world, including the most recent ones.
”We are pleased to be able to join in the Net Zero Carbon commitment. Engaging in the commitment is a natural continuum for our long-term efforts to promote a sustainable real estate portfolio, in which we place special emphasis on improving energy efficiency as well as on sustainable energy investments in our real estate. These measures also benefit the users,” says Real Estate Manager Matti Puromäki, who is responsible for real estate maintenance.
“With OP’s commitment, Finland’s seven biggest real estate owners except one have announced in public that they will aspire towards carbon neutral energy use by 2030. This is a huge step and a strong signal for the coming years, showing that the market leaders want to take concrete measures to combat climate change. It is now time that all of us do our share in order to address this demand,” says Lauri Tähtinen, Development Director of Green Building Council Finland.
The real estate assets managed by OP Real Estate Asset Management total approximately EUR 3.9 billion, and the company is the fifth biggest*) real estate investor in Finland. The zero carbon commitment concerns the energy consumption of real estate directly managed by the company. OP Real Estate Asset Management has re-evaluated and developed the corporate responsibility programme for its real estate investment operations in 2020. In addition, it has prepared a carbon neutrality roadmap that supports the goal of the Net Zero Carbon commitment. As a major player in the sector, the company and its personnel have a broad network, and it actively co-operates with construction companies in order to reduce environmental impacts.
”We are engaged in constant dialogue with our stakeholders about various development opportunities and hope that we can also encourage other players in the sector to commit themselves to the zero carbon emission target,” Puromäki says.
*) KTI’s Market Review, summer 2020
Read more
WorldGBC press release 11/12/2020: WorldGBC announces 18 new signatories to the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
Additional information
Matti Puromäki, Real Estate Manager, OP Real Estate Asset Management, +358 10 252 5085, firstname.lastname@op.fi