BentallGreenOak's Sustainability Influencers are Changing the Game

Annual Letter to Stakeholders from BentallGreenOak's Co-CEO, Sonny Kalsi

It has been 3 years since the formation of BentallGreenOak and two years since the creation of our Culture Code, a unifying motto for employees on how to work productively and with integrity. I’m always gratified to see how our Culture Code has manifested itself in every aspect of our work and how the code has become words to live by for our colleagues around the world. As we now embark on one of the most monumental undertakings in our firm’s history – our commitment towards net zero by 2050 across our managed real estate portfolio – our Culture Code will surely be put to the test. When I ask BGO’s Sustainable Investing team, who’ve been trailblazing on ESG for over 10 years, if they have any doubts in our ability to achieve this goal, they confidently reply: “No”, and here’s why:

We’ve built an ESG team that we believe is unlike any other in our industry, spanning a global range of business and functional leaders who believe that they, too, have a mandate for delivering against our ESG commitments.

This alliance of Sustainability Influencers at BGO is connecting the dots on both our business and climate imperatives to build out innovative practices and solutions that steadily and incrementally chip away at our carbon footprint while continuing to deliver outstanding performance for our clients.

The motivation for this global movement at BGO does not come from award wins, accolades, favorable industry rankings, or other metrics that have become the target of skeptics and critics of corporate greenwashing. This is not “woke capitalism”. The performance of our real estate assets is tied to how well we navigate the challenges of climate change, soaring energy costs, a shifting regulatory environment, and evolving tenant demands. Simply put, succeeding at the ESG game is how we win for our clients while also “Doing The Right Thing”! 

BGO’s Sustainability Influencers in Asset Management and Operations have certified Fitwel Viral Response–approved real estate portfolios in both Canada and the US that are amongst the largest in both countries, adapting our buildings to more stringent standards for health and wellness. Our influencers in Development are building London’s largest office scheme with commitments to being all-electric, net zero carbon emissions-ready from day one of construction. Our influencers in Portfolio Management are now aligned with the Operating Principles for Impact Management, which designates our US Core Strategy as one of the first US-based, open-end, diversified, core real estate funds to commit to this global framework. Our Investment Management teams are committing time and resources to exploring new Proptech and AI platforms that offer a promising glimpse into further carbon reductions and efficiency gains.

In the flight to quality for tenants and investors, our clients understand the correlation between environmental and social performance and long-term value creation, and the message is loud and clear: obsolescence and inaction are unacceptable.

Our social endeavors at BGO are driven by a diverse group of influencers who are rallying our support for the Black, Asian, LGBTQ2+ and other underrepresented communities and are the force behind our progressive action in support for women. Their remarkable influence is not only reforming the way we craft policy and deliver support services within BGO, but they are tangibly directing our external efforts in the areas of education reform, poverty alleviation, mental health care, and countless other social justice, welfare, and sustainability initiatives. Influencers at all levels of the firm are sparking new ideas for how to use our growing global position to improve the world around us. 

ESG has gone viral at BGO and we are led by a diverse, growing community of influential professionals with an enterprising spirit empowered by our Culture Code. Our ESG mission is synonymous with our fiduciary commitments to investors whose constituencies may view the environmental and social predicament of the world around us with some of the same concerns as we do. But their hopes are our hopes, too, and this is why our ESG mission and the actions we’re taking now to drive reform and progress will be the game changer we’ve been ready for.

Sonny Kalsi

Co-CEO, BentallGreenOak

Click here to download our 2022 Corporate Responsibility Summary and to learn more about our ESG mission.