Sustainability Management at Vonovia

Our business model means that our relationship with social and environmental change processes is one of great interdependence. Sustainability is thus a key component of our corporate strategy. In recent years, we have made great progress in integrating sustainability into the company’s business processes.

With the launch of the non-financial performance indicator SPI in 2021, these are linked to clear and remuneration-relevant targets for the Management Board and senior management (the first tier below the Management Board).

The SPI comprises six sub-indicators based on the material topics of Vonovia. They include the carbon intensity of the housing stock, the energy efficiency of new buildings, the share of accessible (partial) modernization measures in relation to newly let apartments, the increase in customer and employee satisfaction and proportion of female managers in the company’s top management team. The SPI for Vonovia achieved an index value of 103% in the reporting year (see Report on Economic Position). For a more detailed description of our sustainable business model, please refer to the chapter entitled Fundamental Information About the Group.

Vonovia’s understanding of sustainability illustrates how we interpret sustainability at the company. It is published on our Investor Relations website.

At Vonovia, sustainability lies at the very top level of management. The individual responsible for the issue of sustainability is the Chief Executive Officer. On the part of the Supervisory Board, the Audit Committee, in particular, performs the corresponding control function.

Central coordination of sustainability activities is the responsibility of the Sustainability/Strategy department. This department reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Its core duties include, in particular, the further development of the sustainability strategy, the definition and monitoring of sustainability targets, the providing of impetus and the implementation of sustainability projects. It also handles sustainability reporting, which includes not only sustainability reporting within the annual report, but also the preparation of the sustainability report and the management of numerous ESG ratings.

A sustainability committee meets three to four times a year– as required – to discuss the overall strategic direction and to evaluate the company’s sustainability performance. The committee comprises the entire Management Board (including the chief representatives), 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.

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 companies and the Swedish company Victoriahem. In order to take the development business of the German company BUWOG into account, a coordination function for sustainability has been set up there, too.