Environmental Impact
As a responsible REIT, PRIME is dedicated to minimising the environmental impact of our operations and promoting sustainability throughout our portfolio. We understand the crucial role that the built environment plays in global greenhouse gas emissions and are determined to reduce our carbon footprint through effective energy management.
We have an environmental policy that was implemented in December 2022 (the "Environmental Policy") which addresses the environmental impact of our portfolio assets, recognising our contribution to Greenhouse Gas ("GHG") emissions through such assets and the direct financial and environmental benefits that are gained from efficient environmental management and operations. By way of the policy, we commit to using energy and materials efficiently, to preserve our resources and reduce our environmental impact. Our goal is to reduce operational expenses, decrease our GHG emissions and utilities consumption, and improve the quality of the work environment for building occupants and visitors.
Further details from our Environmental Policy concerning other environmental aspects are included in the different sections below based on relevancy. We aim to familiarise our property manager teams with this policy and policy trainings will be conducted for all property managers in FY2023. Outcomes from the policy implementation will be tracked over the course of FY2023 which will form the basis of our medium- to long-term targets to be set in due course.
In line with the recommendations from the TCFD and as alluded to in our previous Sustainability Report, we have also undertaken climate reporting as guided by SGX. More details can be found in the TCFD Disclosure segment of this Report on page 112. We aim to take further steps in developing more robust procedures and policies to address climate risks and opportunities present in and affecting our operations.
We are committed to evaluating and addressing the environmental impact of our properties, including their energy consumption, water usage, and waste generation. Our Property Managers assist us in regularly monitoring and improving the energy efficiency of our buildings, by implementing innovative technologies and best practices to reduce our environmental impact. Through our upcoming membership with GRESB, we expect to benchmark ourselves against other players in the real estate market to influence our strategy and environmental performance.
Fostering a Green Supply Chain
We have a green purchasing policy that was implemented in December 2022 (the "Green Purchasing Policy") which ensures purchased products have a low environmental impact, such as being recycled, manufactured using renewable resources or locally sourced inputs and are non-toxic, while also meeting cost and performance requirements. Essential suppliers to PRIME's business include engineering, janitorial, parking, landscaping, waste management and recycling vendors. Our strategy for building and preserving a green supply chain is to continually screen for viable green suppliers in the market and maintain close relationships and engagement with suppliers to understand the impacts that their policies and procedures have on social and environmental issues. We aim to familiarise our property management teams with this policy and policy trainings will be conducted for all property managers in FY2023. The policy implementation outcomes will be tracked over the course of FY2023 which will form the basis of our medium- to long-term ESG targets that will be set in due course.
Energy Star2 Performance for FY2022
1 Energy Star score rates the building's energy performance relative to similar buildings nationwide. Expressed on a 1-100 scale, a higher score denotes better energy efficiency. A score of 50 represents median energy performance, while a score of 75 or higher indicates that the building is a top performer. More information available at: https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/benchmark/understand_metrics/how_score_calculated
For more information, please refer to page 101-106 of PRIME's 2022 Annual Report.