sustainability report 2022
As a leading owner, developer and manager of industrial real estate globally, we recognise the role our properties play in our customer’s value chain. Our preference for strategic infill development sites provides not only opportunities for our customers to be close to transport hubs and consumers, but is also a chance to rejuvenate and reposition existing brownfield sites into modern business precincts.
Our sustainably designed, energy-efficient and well managed properties are strategically located to meet the business, health and wellbeing needs of our customers. We collaborate to provide the properties they need today, and the resilience to withstand the global challenges of tomorrow. Sustainability shapes our commitment to reduce carbon emissions from our developments and create buildings that are energy efficient and help generate their power.
We measure the embodied carbon emissions of our developments and continue to collaborate with our supply chain partners to support developments in lower-carbon materials and designs.
Actively contributing to the Net Zero transition |
Owning strategically located properties close to consumers in key global markets |
Developing or adapting properties to be innovative, energy-efficient, and flexible |
Delivering resilient assets that support human health and value natural capital |
400MW of solar PV capacity in operation by 2025
A further 78 MW of solar PV installed or committed to during FY22.
Taking Goodman’s global installations to approximately 203MW.
100% renewable energy use within our operations by 2025
Achieved 100% renewable energy use Australia in FY22 and increased to approximately 65% globally.
Continued investing in solar to increase energy use across our portfolio.
Carbon neutral operations by 2025
Maintaining carbon neutrality for our global operations in FY22. This includes emissions within our operational control and excludes embodied emissions from our developments and our customers’ emissions.
We will continue to lower our operational emissions and increase our use of renewable energy.
Maintain >95% overall occupancy rate
Achieved 98% occupancy rate.
Goodman’s properties are designed to be efficient and highly functional both today and into the future. We achieve this by combining sustainable design fundamentals with the use of innovative materials and building automation.
Our experience plays a key role too. Goodman’s designs have been shaped by our many years developing cutting-edge logistics properties. Our green buildings also incorporate wellbeing initiatives that positively impact our customers and their workforce.
Extensive engagement with our customers is at the core of our design approach. We look to include emerging technologies so we can better support design priorities.
We view our properties as a strategic part of our customer’s supply chain. Using this lens we take a lifecycle approach with our designs, developing flexible and adaptable properties we know will be in demand in the years to come.
Although we incorporate many sustainable design features as part of our standard designs, we also work closely with customers to see where, together, we can push boundaries.
The long-term relationships we build with our customers are reflected in our high occupancy levels, sustained rental growth and strong level of development activity.
Our efforts to improve resilience across Goodman’s portfolio are an important part of our strategy. We aim to develop properties that are flexible with greater resilience to intensifying climate-related events. They also need to adapt to shifting customer and market dynamics.
The locations of our properties and accessibility for customers remain integral to Goodman. We understand the value of strategically-located properties and our preference for sites in these locations supports our long-term approach to real estate.
Our commitment to reduce carbon in the development process and provide buildings that generate energy has greatly influenced our design process. These priorities support the broader commitments that Goodman, as well as many of our customers and investment partners, have made towards reducing emissions.
Our environmental targets will be achieved through collaboration and alignment across the entire value chain. We’re pleased that the conversations we’re increasingly having with our stakeholders show that we’re moving in the right direction.
We’re also continuing our transition to carbon neutral buildings. We’ve established processes for calculating embodied emissions consistently across our global operations, and this is now a standard part of our development approach.
Our work to decarbonise our developments by supporting the take up of lower carbon materials is progressing. As part of this commitment, our participation in industry movements such as the Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders Alliance (MECLA) provides a channel for organisations to work together to reduce embodied carbon emissions in the building and construction industry.
As land is becoming scarce in Barcelona the answer for logistics companies is increasingly: ‘go up’. Making use of limited land is vital when the vacancy rate in the Catalan logistics market is very low – less than 2%.
Multi-storey warehouses like the Goodman Castellbisbal Logistics Centre provide a sustainable solution for our Spanish customers. Featuring two units of 13,200 sqm, the multi-storey facility lies at an intersection of the two most important highways in Spain, just 28 km from the centre of Barcelona. This strategic location allows our customers to be close to Barcelona’s 5.5 million consumers1 and maximise last mile operations.
Goodman first introduced multi-storey logistics centres to Spain in 2021. Now Goodman Castellbisbal Logistics Centre is Goodman’s second multi-storey real estate logistics project in the country. Multi-storey facilities are a sophisticated solution to land scarcity and urbanisation challenges. They streamline delivery processes and reduce traffic – benefiting cities and communities. They reduce the distance of the last mile and provide flexibility for our customers.
Goodman has been developing multi-storey facilities globally since 2012. We have now worked on 46 of these properties around the world.
In East Milan, Goodman’s new Pioltello Logistics Centre has achieved one of the highest BREEAM rating scores for a logistics asset in Italy. The property achieved BREEAM New Construction Excellent certification with an outstanding score of 79.5%.
The 10,000 sqm property is a great example of sustainability applied to logistics real estate. A Life Cycle Analysis provided insight into the overall carbon impact of the building over the long term, and it was designed and developed adhering to the highest sustainability standards.
Achieving the excellence rating from BREEAM required the Pioltello Logistics Centre to rank strongly across nine categories: management, energy, pollution, health and wellbeing, land use and ecology, transport, materials, waste and water.
Water management was the top performer, with a 100/100 score. This is in large part due to its design that minimises flood risks and reuses rainfall.
BREEAM wasn’t the only certification achieved for this property. The building’s energy efficiency features including high performing HVAC also earned the building an A4 energy performance certification – the highest available in Italy.
Features include:
As with all our developments, strategic location is key. Pioltello Logistics Centre provides easy access to a large consumer market with 2.5 million people accessible in a 30-minute drive time.1
In a former paper factory just 20 miles from the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Goodman Logistics Center Fullerton has both strategic location and environmental credentials in its favour.
This LEED registered, modern facility feels worlds apart from its origins. Today, 13.5 million people live within a one-hour drive of the four-building industrial campus, which reduces delivery times and transport emissions for our customers servicing the local market. There’s another benefit too: Fullerton’s connectivity to the greater Los Angeles areas and direct access to I-91 and other major motorways means 20 million customers fall into its same-day delivery zone.1
The brownfield development was built with 95% of recycled materials already on site and incorporates a number of sustainability features such as electric vehicle charging stations, motion detected lighting and a solar ready roofing system.
When it comes to wellbeing, Goodman Logistics Center Fullerton offers various employee amenities encouraging a healthy and active workforce including breakout areas outside with enabled Wi-Fi, and a greenscaped walking trail for midday walks. The site is also close to world-class restaurants, shopping, Disneyland Resort, Downtown Fullerton, Honda Center, Anaheim Convention Center, Angel Stadium and California State University, Fullerton – making it an attractive destination for people to work.
Read more sustainability in action
Goodman’s Boards have committed to addressing climate risk at the highest level of the organisation. We work to maintain our understanding of current potential exposure to risks, gauge their impact on the business and identify meaningful mitigation responses.
Our view of risk goes beyond the direct physical risks to our assets posed by climate change. It also includes transitional risks to our business that relate to shifts in policy, regulatory and disclosure obligations, insurance impacts, and the market broadly.
This year, we finalised our 2030 science-based emission reduction targets, which are considered ambitious and aligned with a 1.5°C pathway.
Our first scenario-based climate-risk assessment aligned with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guidelines was completed in 2020 and is reviewed annually. This assessment examined the key physical and transitional risks in our major regions and determined the following to be the most material:
The 2020 assessment process provided Goodman with an effective method of communicating risks and opportunities to our investors. It also led to us setting ambitious targets around reducing emissions, increasing renewable energy, and achieving carbon neutrality.
We continue to evaluate the risks posed by extreme weather events and update our due diligence, design guidelines and property management operations to help mitigate our risks.
View our TCFD Statement
Goodman recognises the risk changing climate presents to our business. How we respond to these risks influences how we operate, develop and manage our properties now and in the future. Managing climate risk is incorporated into Goodman’s broader risk management framework and our responses are strategic and based on long-term outcomes.
Science-based approach
During the year, we finalised our science-based emission reduction targets. Using 2021 as our baseline year, our 2030 targets have been validated by the SBTi as being aligned with the UN Paris Agreement’s goal of 1.5°C.
Our science-based target commitments include:
Our targets were derived in collaboration with greenhouse gas accounting specialists using the SBTi methodology. As our ability to control our Scope 3 emissions is limited, collaboration with suppliers and customers will be important. We will also need to remain focused on factors like efficient design and the location of our properties, supply of onsite renewable energy, EV infrastructure and our ability to influence our customers’ own emission reduction commitments.
This year Goodman created a Sustainability-Linked Bond Framework (Framework) to outline how Goodman Group will link our financing strategy with our sustainability strategy. The Framework uses Goodman’s science-based targets for our Scope 1 and Scope 2 reduction as performance criteria.
After developing the framework, we issued our first US$500 million of Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLB) into the Rule 144A / Reg S market with a scheduled maturity of 2032. They reflect the Group’s focus on operating sustainably as well as our commitment to reducing emissions aligned with 1.5°C science-based targets. Failure to meet our targets has a financial consequence under the terms of the SLB.
Maintaining carbon neutral certification
We’re on track to maintain our carbon neutral certification for our global corporate operations under the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard. We remain focused on reducing our operational emissions through efficiencies and increasing our use of renewable energy.
Our carbon inventory includes Goodman Scope 1 and 2 emissions. It also encompasses Scope 3 emissions from operational activities.
Importantly, the boundary of our carbon neutral certification excludes the embodied emissions from our developments and the emissions of our customers from the spaces they lease from Goodman. However, our solar PV and efficient building designs help support our customers’ Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions targets.
Embodied carbon is a key issue for Goodman as building materials and construction account for approximately 11% of global energy-related carbon emissions.
Through our design approach, we reduce our customers’ emissions by including features like solar PV, EV charging stations, energy-efficient LED motion-sensor lights, passive lighting and electric heat pumps.
To tackle the challenge of reducing embodied emissions, we are collaborating with our supply chain partners to encourage lower carbon materials in our building designs.
As part of this work, we recently introduced a process to measure and offset the embodied emissions of our new developments. Our approach uses Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and helps us create carbon baselines for our developments across each of our regions. These can be used to forecast emissions.
This process to measure embodied emissions enables us to place a value on carbon. It also provides a framework for investing in carbon reductions, including offsets. Over time, we anticipate that the availability of low carbon materials which we can use will increase, further reducing our embodied emissions.
We realise investing in carbon offsets is necessary to support the world transition to Net Zero. We invest in carbon offsets both to meet Goodman’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral certification, and as part of our transition to carbon neutral developments.
This year we refined our process and criteria for purchasing carbon offsets. This will help mitigate risks and help us procure quality offsets.
We prefer nature-based projects and if feasible, projects occurring in the regions where Goodman operates. We partner with leading carbon offset suppliers to procure offsets which meet our high standards. These suppliers provide additional due diligence on carbon offset projects and guidance on the additional social and biodiversity benefits of different projects.
As part of our procurement of quality carbon offsets, Goodman has made a strategic investment in an integrated carbon credit and regenerative platform in Australia – Wyuna Regenerative Agriculture.
Investing alongside Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation, this project assists land regeneration, sustainable food production and land-based solutions to climate change.
Carbon credits for the scheme will be produced using the Clean Energy Regulator’s ‘Human Induced Regeneration’ methodology. It deploys technology and improved land management practices that result in the growth of vegetation to deliver carbon sequestration.
We are reducing emissions across our business by decreasing energy demand in our buildings and transitioning towards renewable energy sources. This includes energy which we generate ourselves through our solar PV installations and electricity we purchase.
At Goodman it’s now standard practice to incorporate sustainability into our developments at the design stage. We continue to increase our knowledge and awareness of new products and technologies so that we can develop cutting edge energy efficient buildings.
Some examples of our approach include the use of carbon neutral cladding and insulation in the UK, efficient heat pumps for heating in Continental Europe, and deploying building management systems in our properties around the world (see Sustainable design section for more information).
We also enhance the operational energy efficiency of our stabilised assets and invest in upgrades to keep improving. These opportunities include energy-efficient LED motion-sensor lights, and electric heat pumps and energy monitoring systems.
To help our customers reduce their emissions and to reduce the demand on electricity grids, we continue to build our own capacity to generate clean energy. This year, in collaboration with our customers, we installed and committed to 78MW of new solar PV capacity on both our developments and stabilised assets. This takes us up to 203MW of solar PV installed globally; on track to meet our 400MW target by 2025.
Shifting to renewable energy
Where our properties cannot generate enough energy to cover their consumption, we are increasingly looking to source 100% renewable electricity from accredited suppliers. Around 65% of Goodman’s global electricity consumption (in Goodman’s controlled areas) is generated from renewable energy sources and we remain on track to meet our 100% renewable energy target by 2025.
At the Rotterdam I Logistics Centre in the Netherlands, connection to the future is obvious. The 65,926 sqm of first-generation warehouse space is equipped with smart meters, efficient lighting and EV charging stations.
But it’s the rooftop that really shows Goodman’s commitment to a sustainable future. This year, we installed 7MW of solar panels on the roof. This complex project required over 17,000 panels to be spread across a space roughly the size of five football fields.
Rotterdam I Logistics Centre has the largest solar installation on one building. It’s also currently the largest solar roof in South Holland – providing enough green energy to support the electricity needs of the equivalent of 1,934 Dutch households per annum.
Key statistics
At Goodman Business Park, Greater Tokyo, our 500,000 sqm master planned business and technology precinct now hosts another of Goodman’s largest solar installations globally.
The latest installation is a 3MW solar array on the recently completed Goodman Business Park West Building. For this installation, building and customer energy needs are prioritised with remaining power sold to the grid.
While the solar array at Goodman Business Park is impressive, it’s only one of the sustainability features on a site renowned for its design and customer amenities. This multi-level, carbon-neutral development features EV chargers, LED sensor lighting, rooftop urban gardens and break-out spaces. Customers and the local community can also take advantage of the amenities in the Park, including a child care facility, a gym, restaurants, and a coffee shop – all in a strategic location with excellent access to downtown Tokyo.
Our next major development in Japan will also feature a large solar array with Joso 1 planning 4.52MW of solar in addition to plans for battery storage.
Key statistics
Goodman has mandated that from FY22 all new developments and renovations in Europe will no longer use gas as a heating or cooling source. Transitioning from gas to gasless heating sources is an important climate-driven decision. However, it has gained momentum with the geopolitical issues in the region impacting oil and gas prices and availability.
There are several heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies in the market, but not all are technically and economically viable. The diagram shows some of the gasless heating technologies currently commercially available.
Goodman will use the right system for each individual property and operational requirement.
The preferred gasless heating technology uses electric HVAC systems coupled with onsite renewable energy production. In our recently completed Halle VI Logistics Centre development in Germany, the warehouse and office space are 100% heated and cooled by electric heat pumps.
Goodman Europe’s gasless strategy
New developments and renovations will solely consider electric HVAC systems and on-site renewables.
For stabilised assets, a roadmap for HVAC replacements is being developed.
More than 50% of our global development program occurs on brownfield sites. These are previously developed properties that are no longer in use or out of date and require regeneration or remediation by specialists like Goodman.
Brownfield sites are integral to Goodman’s sustainability strategy and support Goodman’s commitment to circularity by reducing, recycling and reusing existing resources for as long as possible.
Brownfield developments offer Goodman opportunities to use our expertise to regenerate existing sites, reuse finite materials and reduce waste, improve natural habitats and enhance biodiversity, and reduce our construction emissions while providing logistics facilities in strategic locations.
By replacing or repurposing outdated buildings found on brownfield sites, we can improve the quality and performance of existing building stock without requiring additional land. In a world with a growing population, urbanisation and land scarcity, this is particularly important.
Brownfield sites are close to transport infrastructure and large populations, providing our customers with opportunities to find efficiencies within their logistics operations. Transforming these industrial areas into modern, efficient and sustainable commercial precincts also unlocks additional labour benefits for our customers, as brownfield sites are often close to a large workforce.
The social value we add serves local communities too. Our new industrial precincts often include cafes and fitness and recreation facilities. Goodman developments such as Goodman Business Park Chiba, in Greater Tokyo Japan, and Highbrook Business Park in Auckland, New Zealand are recent examples.
Regeneration is underway at the former Foodstuffs distribution centre on Roma Road in Auckland.
As we target a 5 Green Star Built rating, our company-wide commitment to circularity is paying off. Around 90% of demolition material from Roma Road was diverted from landfill. We recycled steel framing and roofing, large volumes of concrete and masonry were crushed onsite and retained for construction base, and local stone masons used the volcanic rock we uncovered.
All four new warehouses will use sustainably sourced materials where possible and energy-efficiency will feature prominently. Customers will have LED lighting, EV charging systems, and low emission refrigerants for HVAC.
Roofs have a role too. They’ll generate solar energy and harvest 80,000 litres of rainwater. An urban ngahere (forest) will be planted where native plants will replace exotics, attracting birds and enriching the environment for the workforce.
NZ Post will anchor the new development. The last mile location will mean fewer trucks and lower transport emissions for its increasing number of deliveries as e-commerce grows in New Zealand.
At Tremblay-en-France, 30km from the centre of Paris, Goodman was able to reuse, recover or recycle 99.1% of waste from the old buildings on this brownfield site.
Approximately 44 tons of materials, including partition walls, fire doors and raised floors were re-used locally – within an average of 60km from the site. We also recycled 7,900 tons of materials like glass, carpet, ceramics, plaster and steel.
In the extensive pre-deconstruction stage, which included cleaning, sorting and on-site repairs, specialist local SMEs and circular economy start-ups helped identify the right channel for each resource. At one stage, 16 types of waste were stored across the Tremblay-en-France property.
The deconstruction process required specific methods, tools and machinery. It also required more people on site – a 20% increase over the standard demolition workforce. We worked closely with our contractors to train their people in the new techniques.
Learnings from Tremblay-en-France will be employed across future Goodman projects.
Not all brownfield developments are newly acquired. Our practice of buying strategically located sites means we already own some older sites ripe for redevelopment. This is particularly the case in Australia, where we’ve operated for almost 30 years.
One example is in the Sydney suburb of Smithfield, just 24 km from the CBD. Easy access to Sydney’s motorway network meant customers had long coveted the strategic location of the old Smithfield Distribution Centre, but the property had reached the end of its economic life.
This year we completed the transformation of this outdated warehouse into a flexible, modern multi-unit estate. Now, Gateway@Smithfield houses eight customer units across two buildings, providing 46,455 sqm GLA.
As part of our sustainability commitment, we installed 1.14MW of solar for the new development. We also included EV charging provisions on 10% of the car spaces and LED lighting with daylight harvesting capabilities in all warehouse spaces, 10% translucent roof sheeting and 5kL rainwater collection tanks.
Brownfield redevelopments are complex, and Smithfield was no exception. The timing of the regeneration project meant that strict lockdowns were in place during some of the process, while the team also had to contend with sustainably managing contaminated materials during the demolition and building process.
The site is now fully leased to a range of customers who appreciate the easy access and proximity to 4.5 million consumers within a 60-minute drive time1.
Nature provides many of the essential resources we rely on to survive. Yet, global biodiversity and the health of ecosystems are under threat. Scarcity of resources and demand for more materials are creating the need for businesses to challenge themselves to respond to these threats. We can design for circularity by identifying new strategies to operate more efficiently, design out waste through reuse and recycling, and where possible use fewer resources. In this light, circularity can help reduce biodiversity loss.
Circularity, or the circular economy approach, is a blueprint for action, and it’s gaining traction. Consumers, investors, companies and governments are recognising the importance of circularity and how it can be used to respond to global challenges like climate change, reducing pollution and declining biodiversity.
Goodman has a responsibility to do what it can to preserve and improve biodiversity across its global operations. Our ambition is to deliver resilient assets that support human health and value natural capital, and our customers and investment partners are looking to us to lead on these efforts. We are certain that disclosure of natural capital and biodiversity management will increase, highlighted by the global launch of the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework.
Our preference for re-developing brownfield sites, and when needed, rehabilitating contaminated industrial environments, supports the circularity approach. It offers Goodman the opportunity to enhance the local environment and improve biodiversity as well as make other positive improvements. This work is underway. We’ve already begun establishing urban forests, linking wildlife corridors, installing gardens with beehives and expanding conservation areas at our sites.
Set in a landscaped park environment, Bedford Commercial Park will offer green open spaces and attractive surroundings for our customers and their employees to enjoy.
The Park includes a network of landscaped ponds, designed to support local wildlife and protect natural habitats. The Park is complemented by a community orchard, extensive woodland planting, and a series of pedestrian footpaths and cycle routes which link the Park with its natural surroundings. It will also be the home to a future canal link between Bedford and Milton Keynes.
Since we completed Phase 1 in 2019, we’ve worked with the local charitable trust, the Forest of Marston Vale, to increase tree canopy cover in the area by 30%. More than 950 native trees have been planted across the Park, with Goodman people also volunteering their time to help.
Once complete, Bedford Commercial Park will include four acres of ponds and close to seven acres of new and existing woodland.
Bees help support biodiversity across the globe. Without them, many ecosystems would cease to exist. But today’s global bee populations face a multitude of threats, including habitat destruction, disease and the use of agricultural chemicals.
To help, Goodman is colonising wild bees by planting wildflower meadows with nesting sites on the grounds at some of our German properties in Pforzheim, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Hamburg. The project, supported by bee experts and beekeepers at Pforzheim III Logistics Centre in Germany, will help these threatened species as we improve biodiversity in the area. It will also provide wellbeing benefits to the local workforce, as they will be able to enjoy the improved natural surroundings.
Another way we support biodiversity is through the 100-plus beehives now installed across our European sites. In Germany, our honeybees produced almost 600 kilograms of honey this year. Some of it came from the beehives located at our logistics sites in Nuremberg, Eppertshausen, Leipzig and Pforzheim, where our customers are partnering with us to support the bees.
Preserving and maintaining our natural assets is important to Goodman. Innovation – both in technology and in our thinking – has helped us make big leaps in sustainable landscaping practices in Australia.
Through pilot projects, collaboration with suppliers and trials of new technologies, we have been able to reorient our landscaping operations with sustainability front of mind.
Technology-led solutions to reduce water waste
Last year we installed 384 potable water meter devices – at least one on each Australian property. These meters track the 1,468 megalitres of water used across our portfolio every year. Their real time data helps customers understand their water usage and identify leaks or wastage so that they can be repaired well before a bill arrives.
We also deployed smart irrigation across Goodman’s Australian portfolio. This technology-led solution is so smart that individual garden beds can be remotely controlled, reducing water use at some properties by 54%.
Making our landscaping practices more sustainable
We used new technology to reduce the chemicals used to tackle weeds. After comparing various low-toxic weed control options, we trialled new equipment combining saturated steam and boiling water. This solution helps nurture soil and use less of the chemical Glyphosate. We are working closely with the manufacturer to make it more portable so we can use it more widely.
From December 2022 all our landscaping contractors will need to use lithium battery-powered blowers, hedge trimmers and other handheld landscaping equipment. These are lighter, quieter and easier to handle than combustion options – and don’t rely on fossil fuels for power.
A sustainable approach to trees
There are 21,000 trees across the Australian portfolio. We have a maintenance plan in place which helps maintain optimum health and longevity. Soon, when our trees are trimmed, the branches will be broken down into mulch, soil or compost and then reused. A green waste recycling pilot project on several Goodman properties in Sydney processed an estimated 500 cubic metres of green waste in just six months. This project will soon roll out nationally.
1. Source: Esri and Michael Bauer Research