Actively Pursuing Sustainability: Morguard Releases 2022 Sustainability Report

Morguard advanced its sustainability practices through property enhancements and community engagement. 

• Morguard's Canadian office and retail portfolio reduced energy consumption by 4.2%, reduced our emissions by 12.3% and reduced water consumption by 16.8%.
• Morguard launched its first diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employee survey.
• Morguard completed its first 'double' materiality assessment.

MISSISSAUGA, ON, June 29, 2023 /CNW/ - Morguard Corporation ("Morguard") (TSX: MRC) today released its 2022 Sustainability Report, prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative's Universal Standard. The Report details Sustainable Morguard's environmental, social and governance ("ESG") achievements and strategy. For Morguard, embracing sustainability involves adopting and sharing values that protect the natural environment, mitigate risk, and help build and support communities. Sustainability also involves optimizing the performance of our buildings and investments. To download the 2022 Sustainability Report and Highlights, visit morguard.com/sustainability. 

"Sustainable Morguard demonstrates our commitment to ESG and reducing our carbon footprint," said K. Rai Sahi, Chairman and CEO, Morguard. "In 2022, we continued to launch new programs and practices to meet the environmental, social, and governance challenges of the day, while continuing to deliver long-term value to our stakeholders." 

Integral to reporting in accordance with GRI's Universal Standard is a company's materiality assessment. Morguard initiated its first materiality assessment in 2017 and in 2022 conducted our first double materiality assessment – assessing important ESG topics based on environmental and societal impact as well as the financial materiality to Morguard and our stakeholders. To define sustainability priorities for a wide range of stakeholders, Morguard evaluated priority ESG topics and conducted working sessions with internal and external stakeholder groups, as well as with senior leaders. This evaluation revealed the topics that were most critical to stakeholders, including business ethics and integrity, climate change resilience, and energy/water/waste management as primary topics, and will inform the company's go-forward sustainability strategy.  

Sustainable Morguard's key ESG highlights from the Report are:

Environmental
Morguard continues to be guided by our leading GreenLink Environmental Policy as we focus on reducing environmental impacts and engaging our residents and tenants in sustainable practices. 

Environmental highlights from 2022:  

• Morguard's Canadian office and retail portfolio used 4.2% less energy, generated 12.3% less GHG emissions and consumed 16.8% less water, compared to the 2019 baseline.
• Morguard attained a total potable water savings of 1,186,000 litres at our office properties and 8,573,000 litres at our industrial properties over the year.
• Morguard managed 63 buildings certified though the BOMA Best® program and 9 Morguard office properties were ENERGY STAR® certified.

In 2022, Morguard concentrated on developing, acquiring and maintaining high-performance buildings while actively mitigating and managing operational costs, and the risks and opportunities associated with climate risk.  

Social 
Morguard continued its commitment to foster a culture that promotes diversity, equity and belonging. In 2022, the company conducted its first DEI employee survey in which employees scored Morguard at least 75% favourable in five of the six dimensions scored. Morguard also fully embraced an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that is driven by its desire to understand and adapt to employees' wants and concerns.

We have established standards for ethical behaviour and integrity within the organization while also encouraging its employees to get involved in community endeavours. 

Social highlights from 2022: 

• Morguard held a Wellness Week in the fall of 2022, to support and promote employee wellness from a holistic perspective.
• Morguard established social partnerships with non-profit organizations at close to 40% of its properties to help communities prosper by supporting various social causes.

A building is part of the fabric of a local community, a place where people live, work, shop, and gather. That is why Morguard works with tenants, residents, members of the local community and public stakeholders throughout a property's lifecycle to help support the needs of neighbourhoods and keep abreast of evolving sustainability standards to ensure we are meeting them. 

Governance 
Morguard has strong governance practices in place that are essential to providing long-term value to our tenants, employees, partners, communities, and investors. To lead by example, Morguard consistently cooperates with other private and public sector organizations to exchange knowledge and encourage further sustainability efforts. Morguard also introduced various best-in-class, responsible initiatives that demonstrate its deep commitment to environmental action, community involvement and good corporate citizenship. 

Governance highlights from 2022: 

• In 2022, Morguard established an Information Management Committee composed of representatives from senior management and cross functional leads to provide management oversight on laws, regulations and other matters related to privacy, security, and data protection.
• Morguard participated and collaborated on City of Mississauga District Energy's proposed energy projects, participated in the Real Property Association of Canada (REALPAC) and served on the organization's Human Resources and ESG Committees.
• Morguard advanced board and senior management training initiatives on cybersecurity, environmental regulation and management, risk, and insurance.

"Sustainability is a mindset, movement and culture that embraces forward-looking values and resilience," said Beverley Flynn, Senior Vice President, Legal, Risk, and Sustainability. "At Morguard, we believe that sustainability requires collective efforts to lead the change. We are committed to using our voice in developing and maintaining sustainable business practices in our industry."  

About Morguard Corporation
Morguard Corporation is a major North American real estate and property management company. It has extensive retail, office, industrial, hotel and residential holdings owned directly and through its investment in Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust and Morguard North American Residential REIT. Morguard also provides real estate management services to institutional and other investors. Morguard's owned and managed portfolio of assets is valued at $18.6 billion. 

Please visit www.morguard.com or follow us on LinkedIn. 

SOURCE Morguard Corporation