In an interview with PropertyEU, Marie Maggiordomo, head of innovation and sustainability at Goodman Continental Europe, explains how the group is addressing these targets as part of its responsible, long-term approach to real estate.

PropertyEU: Tell us about Goodman
Marie Maggiordomo: Goodman is a global industrial property specialist and funds management group. We own, develop, and manage modern real estate including logistics facilities, warehouses, and business parks in strategic locations around the world.

In Continental Europe (CE), our portfolio spans Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Germany, with customers including Amazon, DHL, BMW, DB Schenker, Kuehne & Nagel, Metro AG and Zalando.

PEU: What is your global sustainability strategy?
MM: Our properties provide essential infrastructure for the digital economy. This includes the storage and movement of data and goods globally, which of course has an impact on the environment. We acknowledge our role in not only protecting but enhancing the environment and the communities where we operate, as well as our business, stakeholders, and the world.

That’s why Goodman’s 2030 sustainability strategy encompasses three pillars – sustainable properties, people and culture and corporate performance. It articulates our shared global vision toward delivering positive change, with clear targets to hold us accountable.

In line with the ‘sustainable properties’ element, Greenspace+ is CE’s own regional roadmap towards building and operating net-positive spaces under the themes of energy, circularity, offsetting, brownfield development, biodiversity and wellbeing.

PEU: What are recent sustainability successes for Goodman globally and in Europe?
MM: In 2021, Goodman’s global operations were certified carbon neutral, four years ahead of target. This provides a strong foundation for further carbon reduction across our portfolio and development activity.

We also installed 70MW of rooftop solar in 2021, taking our global solar capacity to 125MW, avoiding approximately 126,000 tonnes of CO2-e per year, while planning more large installations in 2022. Our global target is 400MW of solar PV installed or committed by 2025, estimated to produce enough electricity to power 120,000 homes annually, with Europe contributing 90MW.

Restoring biodiversity is also key. In Belgium, we established an urban forest at Puurs Logistics Centre with 6,000 trees from 29 native species to improve local biodiversity and enhance community wellbeing.

We’re also working towards 100 per cent brownfield development to rejuvenate previously developed or redundant land. An example is Seevetal Industrial Park in Hamburg, where we are decontaminating, regenerating and transforming a former sand mine into a high-quality warehouse and distribution space. Customer demand for this type of well-located but sustainable space is high, and we let the first phase weeks after construction began.

Meanwhile in France, we announced GREEN DOCK, a 90,000 sqm, four-storey, last-mile logistics estate on the banks of Paris’ River Seine. From construction using natural and recycled materials to innovative energy management including solar PV, a geothermal plant and an urban farm, the vision for GREEN DOCK is to make it a paragon for global sustainable development.

We are also retrofitting our existing portfolio with LED lighting, solar PV and electric vehicle chargers, while creating human-friendly environments through green space and wellbeing aspects, mirroring the features of our new developments.

Goodman CE is also the first major industrial developer to have our scope 1, 2 and 3 emission reduction targets approved by the Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi) in-line with a 1.5°C trajectory. This highlights our commitment to supporting a 1.5°C future, one that we’re also looking at globally and hoping others follow suit.

PEU: What’s next for sustainability in Europe?
MM: Sustainability is part of Goodman’s global DNA, with our European business working with our Australian, Asian, and American counterparts to share learnings and best practice.

With all eyes on our 2030 strategy and working collaboratively across our regions and with customers, stakeholders, and the supply chain, we’re exploring innovative solutions to reduce our impact in-line with our science-based targets.

Upstream, this means better understanding new materials and working with sustainable suppliers. Downstream, close partnerships with customers will see us continue to measure emissions associated with our portfolio and the energy performance of our buildings through smart metering, while adding more weight to our green lease clauses and advising customers how to use our properties sustainably.

Overall, we’re aligning our investments with the Paris Agreement and wider global challenges. It’s a big picture backed up by local delivery and teamwork.