The Vonovia Decarbonization Tool – C0₂ in Focus

At the start of 2021, Vonovia entered into a development partnership with GLS Bank, the advisory company d-fine, and the climate metrics provider right.based on science, with the goal of developing an IT system to analyze the climate impact of residential property and portfolios. With this, Vonovia is setting new standards in the industry. The digital Decarbonization Tool makes it possible to integrate climate-related key figures as well as energy-technical and economic indicators in the management of neighborhoods and real estate portfolios. The software provides an analysis of the portfolio’s climate impact at the current time and in view of the goal of achieving a virtually climate-neutral building portfolio by 2045. The emission reductions achieved by planned modernization projects and community development activities are mapped in the tool and compared with the 1.5°C target set in Paris.

1.5°C-track

firmly in sight

“We firmly believe that the rising pressure on greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector and significant financial risks for the industry urgently require new ideas in order to take the complex interrelationships of building emissions and global warming to a place that allows for sustainable climate-protective building management.” Dr. Lars Dittmann, Climate-neutral Portfolio department head.

The Decarbonization Tool is being used to implement the Vonovia climate path at an operational level and aims to address, for example, the effects of modernization, changes in energy sources, and portfolio changes. The tool indicates, for example, whether the Vonovia portfolio as a whole, or individual neighborhoods, are on track to meet the 2045 climate target, and what influence climate-impacting measures have on achieving the target. This is how we intend to manage our target of achieving climate neutrality in the reporting period through 2045 in an economically prudent and ecologically forward-looking manner.

The top four features of the Vonovia decarbonization tool:

• Visualization of the long-term climate impact of modernization measures
• Possibility of establishing regional climate paths
• Prioritization algorithm shows the order of priority in which buildings are to be modernized
• Evaluation of modernization programs by inputting data on the planned or achieved carbon reductions