At Equity Commonwealth, we believe that sustainability, social responsibility
and strong corporate governance are key contributors to our success. Our approach
is all-inclusive, addressing our effect on the environment, our social impact and
our relationships with our employees, vendors, customers and shareholders.
Equity Commonwealth's sustainability focus includes:
- maintaining high corporate governance standards that are aligned with the
interests of our stakeholders
- implementing a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative
- emphasizing diversity of all types as an important part of
our culture
- efficiently managing energy costs
- providing high levels of customer satisfaction
- actively engaging in our communities
- employee-driven sustainability working group that
collaborates on ways to be more socially and environmentally conscious
Social Responsibility
We believe in a shared commitment to diversity, ethics, integrity and community
engagement.
We have fostered a culture at Equity Commonwealth based on a meritocracy where
integrity, diversity of opinion, working passionately and collaboration are fundamental.
We believe that diversity of all types brings varying perspectives, encouraging
differing viewpoints in order to effectively manage risk and create value.
We have increased our investment in the areas of inclusion, diversity and equity, as
well as employee health and well-being. Over the past year, we launched an online weekly
microlearning platform focused on diversity, inclusion and leadership development; signed
the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion Pledge; surveyed vendors regarding the diversity of
their team members; and enhanced our parental leave policy to provide paid time off for
primary and secondary caregivers.
Equity Commonwealth looks to maintain the highest standards of integrity and
ethics. Toward that end, we have implemented a set of rules that governs our conduct
and can be found in our Code
of Business Conduct and Ethics.
We are also actively engaged in our communities, including involvement with many
local organizations.
Property Sustainability
At Equity Commonwealth, we are focused on operating our properties efficiently
from both an economic and environmental perspective, including by:
- managing energy procurement costs with the cost-effective
purchase of utilities in deregulated markets
- tracking energy consumption and benchmarking properties in
order to evaluate performance trends in an effort to enhance efficiency
- utilizing efficient LED lighting at properties
- performing HVAC retro-commissioning studies
- upgrading VAV boxes to direct digital control
- upgrading building automation systems
- conducting annual cybersecurity risk assessments
Of the four properties in our portfolio as of as of June 30, 2022, two have been certified with the EPA's Energy Star label, and one has also achieved LEED certification from the US Green Building Council.
Equity Commonwealth has achieved LEED certification status from the US Green
Building Council for the following property:
Equity Commonwealth has achieved Energy Star certification from the EPA for the
following properties:
Vendor Sustainability
We engage CBRE, Inc. to provide property management services for our properties
and require its team to comply with our
Employee Code of Conduct and
Business Ethics. In addition, CBRE, Inc. emphasizes its own integrated program
of environmental and social responsibility, which is documented in its Corporate
Responsibility Report that is available on its
website.
Memberships
In 2020, Equity Commonwealth became a GRESB member and has participated in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 GRESB Real Estate Assessment.
In 2021, Equity Commonwealth's President and CEO David Helfand signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion Pledge.
COVID-19
We continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our business. Our priority is the health and safety of our employees, tenants and building staff. We monitor federal, state and local government requirements and guidance for operating workplaces. Our building protocols focus on enhancing building safety to lower the risk of viral transmission of COVID-19, including:
- indoor air quality improvements such as MERV-13 filters and additional outdoor air ventilation, where practical
- increased availability of sanitizer stations near common area touchpoints
- face coverings over nose and mouth when in building common areas, where required by local law
- encouraging social distancing in common areas and elevators, where required by law
- offering tenants additional enhanced cleaning options for their tenant premises
- following enhanced cleaning and communications protocols when notified of COVID-19 incidents in common areas or tenant premises
- applying applicable CDC, ASHRAE, and WHO recommendations, where practical