FIBRA Macquarie

Overview

Owning more than 250 industrial and retail properties, across some 20 cities, FIBRA Macquarie is a driving force in improving the sustainability of the real estate industry in Mexico.

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Sector	Real Estate
Type	Actively managed listed fund
Location	Mexico

The challenge

The real estate sector has a significant impact on the planet, consuming more than 40 per cent of global energy and producing 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. To reach the Paris Agreement goals, the sector is under pressure to improve the efficiency and energy management of properties, while using more sustainable materials.

FIBRA Macquarie is a real estate investment trust, focusing on the acquisition, development, ownership, leasing, and management of industrial and retail real estate in Mexico. We recognise that managing our portfolio for sustainable long-term success is a fundamental part of our responsibility to our stakeholders. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) best practice is critical as we aim for continuous improvement in delivering environmental and financial returns.

Our engagement

We have been committed to implementing ESG best practice since our first day of operations in 2012. We have developed and deployed sustainability guidance, adopting the LEED® framework, to set a standard of excellence for all renovation work and raise our properties to the highest and most recognised construction criteria.

We have also developed a Sustainability Design and Construction, which covers the best ESG practices in the LEED categories. These standards are mandatory for all LEED certified new construction, with some aspects also mandatory for alterations and improvements for properties that do not yet have sustainable certification.

6 assets

BOMA Best certification, the highest levels of efficiency possible

Outcomes

Our approach has improved our sustainability performance and led to improving scores in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), with the 2020 benchmarking resulting in FIBRA Macquarie being awarded Three Green Stars. A good example is the design and development of an industrial property in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, which achieved LEEDv4 Core and Shell Gold certification. The 217k square foot building combines technical features to minimise the environmental impact with tenant guidelines and educational signs that help interior adaptations and occupants to use the building in the most efficient way.

Starting with construction, the life cycle of the building materials was assessed, 21 per cent of the materials contains recycled content. Low energy lighting, thermal insulation, and efficient HVAC systems create estimated energy savings of more than 20 per cent.

The building has easy and safe pedestrian access to local services and public transport, with preferential parking for car-pooled vehicles and bicycles, to reduce the impact of travel. The site’s green areas have only native-adapted species, while water-saving fixtures and reuse of treated water for irrigation and bathrooms cut 77 per cent of total water consumption from the net. All used water is treated onsite and most of it reused onsite, while to neutralise any freshwater pollution, all rainfall is captured through a storm water basin and wells before being re-infiltrated to the ground.

Furthermore, six of our retail portfolio assets have received BOMA Best Bronze certification. Achieving this involved establishing various systems including a tenant engagement programme and a detailed five-year improvement plan to optimise operational and maintenance processes in order to achieve the highest levels of efficiency possible.

Key learnings

Good design and operating practices can be successfully implemented in new builds and make a real difference to our environment. However, we know making improvements to our existing building stock is a greater challenge, and we have plans for additional green building certifications across the portfolio in the future.

Securing the support of tenants is a significant challenge. There is more progress to be made in the development of green leasing arrangements. As such we have developed and certified our green lease template under Green Lease Leaders and have provided sustainability training for our tenants to encourage the attainment of our common efficiency goals.

Creating awareness of better building design and operation is vital to make the sector more sustainable. In addition to creating the first LEEDv4 Core and Shell Gold certified industrial building in Latin America, we are the first to promote awareness of this by reporting against Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) requirements for real estate in addition to our existing Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) disclosures and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in our FIBRA Macquarie ESG report for 2020.