Sustainability at Vonovia

Our Sustainability Strategy

Acting sustainably is at the heart of Vonovia’s identity as a company. We are continuously developing our sustainability-oriented agenda in order to reflect changes in society, the world of politics, the environment and the economy.  

The strategy, which will continue to have a commercially successful business model at its core in the future, explicitly addresses the following sustainability issues:  

• Contribution to climate protection and reducing CO₂ in both, the housing stock and new construction (E)  

• Taking on social responsibility for our tenants, customers and employees (S)  

• Reliable, transparent and trust-based corporate governance (G)  

This specifically means that:  

E: With our 1.5°-aligned climate path, we are committing to the target of a virtually climate-neutral housing stock by 2045 with binding annual interim targets along the way. To ensure that the implementation is successful, we require both, a continuously high level of refurbishment and an increased, decentralized use of renewable energies for heating and powering neighborhoods. In this respect, the neighborhood is the main implementation level for climate protection targets and carbon reduction in the housing portfolio. The use of renewable energies and sustainable materials plays an important role in new construction and refurbishment.  

S: As a part of society, we take on social responsibility for our tenants, customers and employees. We offer socially responsible, transparent rents and see the expansion of a social infrastructure incorporating innovations and new technologies that are tailored to meet people’s needs as an integral part of neighborhood development. Thus, we aim to design urban, environmentally friendly and affordable housing in a socially responsible manner. As an indispensable part of our social responsibility, we offer our employees an attractive working environment characterized by diversity and a large realm of opportunity for personal development.  

G: We uphold our reliable, transparent and trust-based corporate governance, which aligns with the German Code of Corporate Governance and its best practices. We comply with all applicable laws and internal and external guidelines. This is an integral part of being a transparentand trustworthy partner.  

Sustainability Management / Establishment in the Company

At Vonovia, sustainability lies at the very top level of management. The person responsible for sustainability at Vonovia is the Chief Executive Officer. On the part of the Supervisory Board, the Strategy, Finance and Sustainability Committee as well as the Audit Committee (for reporting) bear the corresponding control function.  

The Sustainability/Strategy division operates as an organizational unit directly below the CEO at Vonovia. It drives work on our sustainability issues that are directly incorporated in the company’s strategy and business model at large and reports to and coordinates its operations directly with the CEO. Other core duties of the division include, in particular, the further development of the sustainability strategy, the definition and monitoring of sustainability targets, and the initiation and implementation of sustainability projects. It also coordinates and implements sustainability reporting, which includes not only sustainability reporting within the annual report, but also the preparation of the ESG Factbook and the management of numerous ESG ratings.  

A sustainability committee meets three to four times a year to discuss the overall strategic direction and to evaluate the company’s sustainability performance. The committee comprises the entire Management Board as well as the heads of Sustainability, Corporate Communications, Controlling, Accounting and Investor Relations. This ensures that decisions on the implementation of our sustainability strategy are borne by all relevant divisions and all the way through to local implementation levels. The operational implementation of sustainability aspects takes place in all relevant departments and in our local neighborhoods in the various regions. Because sustainable principles are part of every employee’s ethos. In this way, we develop sustainable living environments on eye level with our tenants and for the cities, municipalities and regions in which we operate.  

In Austria and Sweden, sustainability coordination is embedded in the relevant staff positions. They coordinate the interaction between the Sustainability/Strategy department and the individual countries, as well as the country-specific sustainability strategies pursued by the Austrian BUWOG subsidiaries and the Swedish company Victoriahem.