We believe good stewardship means good business

Our vision is to drive leadership in sustainable real estate across our global organization. Our vision drives our objectives and our commitments. Being a good steward means focusing on the long term, integrating sustainability into our investments and asset management, and collaborating with our tenants, property managers, industry leaders, and community partners.

Integration

We support our teams in integrating sustainable investing best practices across the real estate value chain and believe assessing sustainable material factors during the investment process will help position us to provide long-term value for our investors.

  • Sustainability program guidebook overview

    We developed the Sustainability Program Guidebook to provide the real estate team with a comprehensive tool that can help with the integration of ESG factors throughout the stages of a building’s lifecycle. To reflect constantly evolving sustainability standards across our industry, we update our Guidebook to ensure our team is equipped with best practices.

This diagram shows the sustainability integration process an asset goes through during its lifecycle. A potential asset first goes through an investment selection and screening process that includes initial screening, internal analysis/underwriting, followed by an approval decision. The asset is then evaluated for sustainability factors during the due diligence and decision process. Once the deal is finalized, throughout development, stewardship and asset management, monitoring and reporting, and divestment, the asset is monitored using the internal sustainability program guidebook.


For illustrative purpose only.

Stewardship

Responsible stewardship of client capital is key to our business and culture and is central in our efforts to manage risks and opportunities on behalf of our clients

  • Climate

    As a manager of real estate investments, we recognize that climate risk is a core real estate issue. That's why we continue to seek to build climate resilience within our real estate portfolios, as we believe this is integral to generating value for the long term

  • Nature

    From building construction to operations, the real estate sector is highly dependent on nature. We recognize that neglecting nature can negatively affect the value and resiliency of our real estate business and continue to review and update our process to ensure best practices across the investment lifecycle.

  • People

    Real estate presents an opportunity to create a place in which people live, interact and thrive. At Manulife Investment Management, we seek to create a culture that's more inclusive, better engages employees, and provides opportunities for advancement regardless of background

Sustainable building standards

 

Manulife Investment Management’s Sustainable Building Standards act as our guide to advancing sustainability within all buildings and regions. The Standards define requirements and best practices to property teams and encourage improvements for the benefit of our clients in areas such as environmental risks, energy and water consumptionon, waste diversion, GHG emissions, climate risks, nature and biodiversity, and social impact. Our standards allow us to:

  • Meet industry and stakeholder expectations, such as supporting requirements for certifications, GRESB, and the Principles for Responsible Investment
  • Drive leadership across the five sustainable real estate commitments
  • Enable benchmarking of sustainability performance and understanding of business outcomes
  • Provide tools and resources for third-party property managers

In 2022, we updated our Sustainable Building Standards to adapt to industry changes and ensure improvement across our global portfolio. To ensure its sustainability practices are upheld, we included the Sustainable Building Standards in our property management agreements that require annual reporting on progress.

Transparency

Our commitment to transparency includes reporting on the outcomes of our sustainable investing efforts. We support the adoption of industry-wide standards for disclosure, including the framework outlined by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)¹.

  • Greenhouse gas (GHG)2

    35,600 MWh of renewable energy purchased in 2022

  • Energy2

    23.6% reduction in normalized energy use intensity since 2017

  • Water2

    4.2% reduction of water consumption since 2017

  • Waste2

    46% waste diversion rate in 2022

  • People3

    AVP women % = 31.3%

    AVP % racially and ethnically diverse = 28.6%3

1 https://www.fsb-tcfd.org

2 Real estate SRI report as of December 31, 2022. 

3 Racially and ethnically diverse percent is for U.S.- and Canada-domiciled employees/staff only. Data is based on 312 full-time equivalent staff as of December 31, 2022.

Collabrative engagements and affiliations

The above logos are the property of their respective owners and are used with permission. As of December 31, 2022.

Looking ahead

The next few years will be crucial. Even as we practice good stewardship, we remain focused on continuous improvements. By setting targets for what concrete steps we can take across our global real estate platform, we aim to ensure that all elements we manage today are sustainable for generations to come

  • Execute our GHG road map

    Work with internal and external parties to put action behind our words

  • Build strong relationships

    Continue to collaborate with property management partners to ensure we're executing our sustainability goals together

  • Continue to assess business practice and investment process 

    To develop tools and methodologies to manage nature-related risks and opportunities

Our impact: sustainable investing case studies

We believe active ownership practices are at the center of good stewardship, helping drive strong risk-adjusted investment return potential for our clients over time while we seek to make a positive impact on the environment and society. 

Explore our case studies

Reporting boundaries

January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

Reporting cycle: annual

Data coverage: Data coverage for performance data is outlined where it is presented. If no data coverage is noted, data represents all Manulife Investment Management Real Estate arm properties.

Energy: Energy data includes electricity, natural gas, heating oil, and steam consumption for Manulife Investment Management controlled areas and those managed by our third-party property managers. 2017-2019 energy intensity is normalized for weather, occupancy (where data is available) and extraordinary use. 2020 and 2021 energy intensity is only normalized for weather and extraordinary use due to the impact of COVID-19 on occupancy normalization.

Environmental targets performance: Environmental target performance is measured and reported based on a straight average of normalized property energy and water intensity.

Greenhouse gas emissions: GHG data includes all Manulife Investment Management controlled areas and those managed by our third-party property managers. Methodology for determining GHG is aligned with the ISO 14064-1:2018 and the WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol standards.

Real estate equity

Investment platform in core, core-plus, and value-add office, industrial, multifamily, and retail assets in the United States, Canada, and Asia

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Infrastructure

Equity investments in core and core-plus infrastructure assets focusing on the United States, Canada, and Europe

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