We are green for real.
See why CTP is the most sustainable industrial developer in the region.
Everyone talks about ‘going green’. Beyond the buzz, what does this look like in reality? At CTP, it is a multifaceted process which we address from a variety of angles at every level of our operations. All these facets feed into our goal to be carbon neural by 2021 while also enriching the communities in which we operate. Since we are owners and operators of all our parks, we see this as an ongoing commitment and challenge to reduce our environmental impact, while also improving the ecological wellbeing of the area.
The BREEAM Dream
We build every building in our portfolio with the state-of-the-art materials and technologies to ensure their sustainability over time, while minimizing their ecological footprint. In 2020, this was recognised when CTP’s entire portfolio across six countries was BREEAM certified “Very Good” and higher. With this benchmark, we were the first company in the CEE to undertake and succeed in such a commitment.
We did this because we think about sustainability beyond just our new developments, but also to our existing, older buildings. Our commitment to BREEAM environmental standards started in 2012, when we became the first company outside the UK to be awarded the highest level of BREEAM certification—Outstanding—for one of our office buildings.
This was an achievement for CTP, but also the industry at large.
BREEAM is the leading standardized method for environmental impact assessment. This is done by evaluating buildings’ quality and sustainability in ten areas: energy, health and wellbeing, innovation, land use, materials, management, pollution, transport, waste and water. But it doesn’t stop with a one-time checkup. To uphold this certification, BREEAM reassessed and re-certified the building every three years to ensure it is at peak performance with the latest technologies and standards.
Since CTP’s founding, sustainability has been important to us and has been integrated into our operations and growth. Each year, this commitment deepens. Check out what we did in 2020.
Follow us to the forest...
CTP is serious about green spaces, and we’re not just talking about the green landscaping around our business and industrial parks. In 2020 and early 2021, we bought two forests in Czechia which collectively cover 560 hectares to restore the native biodiversity of these areas, because biodiversity and resilient ecosystems are the best defence against an unstable climate.
CTP is committed to investing in forest preserves across CEE on a 1:1 ratio to our built portfolio. We see ourselves as biodiversity custodians to help society and the environment at large. That's why we strive to protect jeopardised forests against the bark beetle infestation that is ravaging the Czechia’s coniferous forests. With local environmentalists, CTP plants a variety of trees to both offset our carbon footprint, but more importantly to create greater genetic diversity which helps battle the bark beetle infestation. This scourge is a direct result of low-biodiversity resulting from mono-culture planting and over-forestation. CTP continues to seek other, old-growth forests across CEE to preserve, as they are the best type of carbon sink: wild, bio-diverse, old-growth forests are up to 40 times more effective at capturing carbon than a new-growth, managed tree farm. We are getting closer our goal; in Q1 2021 CTP met 89% of our 1:1 forest to GLA ratio with the purchase of 460 hectares of forest and land for reforestation in the eastern region of the Czechia.
Run in circles!
We have been working with the Czech based Institute of Circular Economics (INCIEN) to help close the loop in our operations. The Spielberk Office Centre in Brno was selected as our pilot project; INCIEN studied the park’s operations and gave us a list of recommendations. We learned that bathrooms produced nearly 80,000 tons of paper towel waste annually, so we brought in waste-free hand-dryers, along with several other waste-reducing and recycling solutions. The best practices from the Spielberk pilot project will be transferred to our other office projects in Brno and Ostrava, in addition to our industrial portfolio where possible.
What is Circular Economy
Circular economy is a ‘closed-loop’ solution which allows for both sustainability and growth. First, it assesses the system, then adapts the design to eliminate, reuse or upcycle the negative externalities developed in the operational or production process.
Sunny days ahead
With almost seven million m2 of rentable area, we have a lot of roofs. Starting in 2020, all newly constructed buildings across our whole portfolio are built ‘solar-ready’, meaning either that the roofs will be built to allow the creation of a solar farm on each building by incorporating the necessary hook-up technology, or they will be built with solar panels already installed. These solar farms are built to a capacity to provide for the given park’s operations, and even provide surplus to put back in the grid.
Already in years past, we installed eight solar farms in the Czech Republic on the roofs of a selection of our industrial projects. Our 2021 target is to develop 20MW of electricity capacity in the Czech Republic. CTP’s solar initiative allows us to offer renewable energy to our tenants in solar-enabled parks, lowering their operational costs while providing them with a viable source of renewable energy for their own sustainability goals.
Smart, certified buildings
Smart buildings measure energy consumption in real-time, and make it possible to identify ways to make building operations even more energy-efficient, saving both money and the environment. We upgraded our portfolio with data-collecting technology to better analyse building performance. This enables us to identify ways to make building operations efficient as possible.
In addition to BREEAM, ISO certification is a key third-party assessment which helps us understand and reach the best environmental and energy management standards. While we are working to have our portfolio across all six countries ISO certified, we have achieved it for our two largest country portfolios; all buildings in the Czech Republic and Romania are certified with Environmental management (ISO 14001) and Energy management (50001) certifications.
The Green Bond Promise
In 2020 we rolled out our new Green Bond Framework. We like Green Bonds because they raise money for our verified green projects- which are all our projects. Raising €1.55 billion over three issues in five months, its apparent that our investors like them too. This framework is the crowning connection between our business operations and our environmental values. To verify this promise, we hired Sustainalytics, a third-party to provide an independent Second Party Opinion report.
CTP BREEAM CERTIFIED INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS BY COUNRY
Upon completion of portfolio certification, the only buildings not certified were either in construction phase, or in the process of certification post-handover.
BREEAM CERTIFIED BUILDINGS CZ & RO,
BY DEVELOPER
Upon certifying our entire portfolio, CTP held nearly 85% of all industrial certificates awarded in CZ and 86% of those awarded in Romania. CTP has more buildings certified than any other developer in these 2 markets.