The real estate subsidiaries of Danish pension funds AP Pension and PensionDanmark have linked up with a foundation to develop an industry standard for the construction sector’s impact on biodiversity.
AP Ejendomme, PensionDanmark Ejendomme and the Planetary Responsibility Foundation (PRF) said they received a grant of DKK1.1m (€134,000) from philanthropic association Realdania for the project, which the three property players are co-financing with a corresponding sum.
Peter Olsson, director of AP Ejendomme, said: “For us as developers, an industry standard will be a valuable tool in the work of measuring, reducing and communicating about our impact on biodiversity.”
At the same time, he said, he believed a common model could help both speed up and raise the level of ambition in the entire construction industry.
“We can go a long way on the voluntary path, but I also believe that it will act as an additional catalyst if there are some political requirements and frameworks to ensure that we compete on equal terms,” Olsson said.
PRF was set up two years ago by the owners of real estate and urban development firm ALFA Development.
Mia Manghezi, project development director at PensionDanmark Ejendomme, said although there was already a lot of work going on to incorporate biodiversity into construction, “as an industry we need some common framework if we are to ensure a significant positive effect for biodiversity throughout the value chain, while creating value for our business and members.”
AP Pension said preliminary calculations showed that up to 90% of the total biodiversity impact of construction lay in the value chain.
Because of that, the pension fund said the construction sector needed specific measurement methods that could help key players take responsibility and reduce not only their own impact, but also that of suppliers and partners.
The project to create the standard will run over the coming year, AP Pension said.
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