Manulife sets greenhouse gas reduction plan for $18bn real estate portfolio

Manulife Investment Management has outlined its carbon reduction plan for its US$18.2bn (€15bn) property portfolio.

The asset manager said in its 2021 Real Estate Sustainability report it had set a GHG reduction target of 80% for the portfolio by 2050.

As of March 31, its real estate portfolio includes 63m sqft of office, industrial and retail space and over 6,500 multifamily units across Canada, the US and Asia.

Manulife has developed a GHG model to identify multiple abatement opportunities and model reduction scenarios, and last year it conducted a “deep carbon retrofit study” of its corporate real estate to see where it could achieve immediate and longer-term reductions.

The company said the study proved “an invaluable component” of its carbon-reduction programme, highlighting current corporate carbon output and “providing a clear path forward”.

Steve Blewitt, global head of private Markets at Manulife Investment Management, said: “We are very proud of this responsible move, which represents a step forward in our commitment to climate change mitigation and our role in the transition to a healthier planet.

“Manulife Investment Management’s real estate team has been measuring and reporting on greenhouse-gas emissions in our sustainability reports since 2017. Setting this realistic target demonstrates our commitment to holding ourselves accountable and achieving high standards across climate-related considerations.”

Regan Smith, the global head of real estate sustainability at Manulife Investment Management, said: “Our approach to sustainability in real estate incorporates ESG considerations into all our practices and investment management. Through carbon-emission reduction, Manulife Investment Management aims to be a key player in the transition to a low carbon economy.

“It is with that in mind that we designed a strategy informed by climate science to reduce our carbon output across our real estate portfolio.”

Manulife’s targeted reduction commitment to its real estate portfolio is just one segment of Manulife’s global climate action plan, which also commits to a 35% reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

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