Heimstaden Bostad Commits to Setting Science Based Targets

​Heimstaden AB's subsidiary, Heimstaden Bostad is one of the first major European residential real estate company to commit to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a third-party recognition that Heimstaden Bostad’s targets will meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to mitigate global warming, an important validation of Heimstaden Bostad’s sustainability work and ambitions.

SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The initiative provides support to companies to set climate goals that are in line with certain scientific models.

“Setting science-based targets is good for the planet, society and people and demonstrates our seriousness in tackling climate change. It also helps us accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy and avoid the worst effects of climate change,” says Katarina Skalare, Chief Sustainability Officer of Heimstaden.

In line with the Paris Agreement, Heimstaden Bostad is focused on reducing its carbon footprint, enhancing the energy shift and efficiency of its properties, and building resilience to climate change. 

Heimstaden Bostad will set ambitious carbon-reduction targets across all markets as underwritten by the Science Based Target initiative. This will include fossil fuel free operations in the Scandinavian markets by 2030 and a fuel shift in other markets. Furthermore, Heimstaden Bostad will work to ensure 100% origin certified renewable electricity, which has already been achieved in the Scandinavian markets as well as in Germany and the Czech Republic.

“Setting bold climate ambitions takes planning and hard work and we are currently laying down a roadmap for the years to come. As a part of this, we are committing to setting science-based targets, which will enable us to build stronger relationships with investors, local authorities and other stakeholders,” says Skalare.

In 2021, Heimstaden Bostad will start requesting Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) from manufacturers to be able to calculate specific CO2 equivalent emissions to create a baseline. The baseline will be the foundation to identify and reduce CO2 emissions in the construction of buildings.

Also underlining Heimstaden Bostad’s efforts towards mitigating climate change, the organisation Sustainalytics, a widely respected evaluator of ESG, has recently rated Heimstaden Bostad’s ESG risk as “low” with a score of 12.3, which places Heimstaden Bostad in the top 7% of its industry group as defined by Sustainalytics, a positive improvement from a rating of 17.7 from the previous year.

“Our improved ESG risk rating from Sustainalytics confirms that we are focusing on the right things in our sustainability work and we will continue to work towards further improvement. This builds credibility and legitimacy towards the financial sector and we expect it will positively impact our ability to attract capital,” says Skalare.

About Science Based Targets initiative

The SBTi defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting. Offering a range of target-setting resources and guidance, the SBTi independently assesses and approves companies’ targets in line with its strict criteria.

For more information, contact: 

Katarina Skalare
Chief Sustainability Officer
+46 704-41 15 35
katarina.skalare@heimstaden.com

About Heimstaden
Heimstaden is a leading residential real estate company in Europe, with a focus on acquiring, developing and managing housing and premises. Through our values Care, Dare and Share, we create value for our owners and friendly homes for our customers. Heimstaden has about 100,900 apartments and a property value of approximately SEK 139 billion. Heimstaden's preference share is listed on Nasdaq First North. The head office is located in Malmö. Certified Adviser is Erik Penser Bank aktiebolag, +46 8-463 83 00 and certifiedadviser@penser.se. For more information, visit www.heimstaden.com