We have set a target to increase our renewable energy share to 75% by FY2025. In line with this target, we have launched a project to install rooftop solar panels across 8 of our properties. With a scale of more than 20 MW and an expected annual generation of over 30 MU and an offset potential of 23,700 tonnes of CO2 emissions, this is one of Asia’s largest solar rooftop projects.

With an expectation of 30%+ IRR, we have already secured green financing at sub-6% for this project and are targeting to complete installation by early 2023. Post commissioning, over 40% of our total baseline power consumption (considering FY2023 as the baseline year) across our business parks will be serviced by renewable energy.

Embassy Manyata at Bengaluru is one of our marquee assets and one of the largest business parks in India. The operational area of 11.8 msf hosts more than 50 global companies and their 150,000 employees. The Nagavara Lake and Hennur Lake in close proximity to the Manyata campus make the area rich in several species of different flora and fauna. This has been aided by the horticulture and landscaping efforts done by Embassy REIT inside the tech park.

A biodiversity survey was envisaged for Embassy Manyata, which could help list the different species of birds, insects, butterflies, reptiles and plants within the ecosystem of the park and to assess the current status as per International Union for Conservation of Energy (IUCN). We also expected the survey to identify biodiversity hotspots within the campus, which would also improve the awareness and importance of biodiversity among stakeholders. The biodiversity survey was completed after seven days of enumeration and observation. The survey identified 35 species of birds, 21 butterfly species and 15 species of flora. The survey recommended that green cover be increased by planting more local trees, and also recommended the construction of a butterfly garden.

Butterfly park at Embassy Manyata: The results of the biodiversity survey identified a number of butterfly species in and around Embassy Manyata. In line with the recommendations of the survey, we wanted to create a park for the butterflies in their natural habitat without displacing them. This included identifying host and nectar plants for all 21 butterfly species discovered during the survey. We also identified a small pond that could serve as a watering zone and marshy areas. All of the plants in the butterfly park have name tags and boards with information about the butterfly species that depend on the host plants.

Following the success of the butterfly garden, we launched two more pilot projects with to the goal of enriching the ecosystem around us. The first was to set up bird shelters with feeders that would attract birds from surrounding areas. The second was to set up an apiary for breeding bees which would help in pollination of trees in and around our campus. Both these pilot projects are expected to provide our occupiers further opportunities to connect with nature.

Miyawaki plantation at Embassy Manyata: Miyawaki is a Japanese technique for planting native trees in a small area to create a dense foliage in a few years. Trees of various heights and thicknesses are chosen. After about three years, the area has different categories of trees ranging from smallest shrub layer, to the small sub-tree layer, the average tree layer, and the large canopy layer. The use of native trees also ensures that they require little to no maintenance. This was a very effective way for us to create dense greenery within our limited space.

We hope that the Miyawaki forest at Embassy Manyata will restore the ecological balance of the area and help to further lower the ambient temperatures.

Embassy Manyata in Bengaluru has 11.8 msf Grade A office space already operational, and another 3 msf under development. The adjacent Outer Ring Road (ORR) is used by park occupiers and general public. It also serves as a vital link to the airport, Yeshwanthpur railway station, and other cities such as Mumbai and Hyderabad. This has resulted in traffic congestion at and near the entry and exit gates, obstructing ORR traffic and vehicle movement to and from Embassy Manyata.

Embassy REIT engaged traffic experts to come up with a solution that could ease the congestion. The intent was to allow traffic heading towards Hebbal or KR Puram to pass through, while also allowing unhindered passage for traffic entering or exiting Embassy Manyata. With the support of government authorities, Embassy REIT built a 1-km flyover at Embassy Manyata costing around ₹1.8 billion. This massive public infrastructure upgrade is expected to decongest traffic on the stretch by up to 70%, curtail travel time by 15 minutes for over 200k daily commuters and significantly reduce pollution in the area. The ORR has been upgraded to five lanes from the previous three, resulting in a 67% increase in carriage capacity. The most rewarding result for Embassy REIT has been the reduction of carbon emissions by 10,000 metric tons equivalent per year.

Almost 80% of the plastic produced in India is discarded after a single use. Some of it is burnt, causing air pollution. The rest ends up in landfills or clogs drains. It also chokes animals that eat plastic bags, etc. Plastics found in fields blocks germination and prevent rainwater absorption. The use of plastic in laying roads is an innovation that helps to reuse some of the discarded plastic. The additional benefit is that roads made using plastic have been found to be more durable. These roads have a higher load-bearing capacity and are more resistant to rain.

We implemented this technology when repaving roads inside Embassy Manyata, and added 8% of shredded plastic to the bitumen per the design mix.

As part of our customer centricity initiatives, our goal is to achieve and sustain high customer satisfaction levels. We undertake a customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey each year to understand the occupier satisfaction levels with our services and perceptions regarding our campus facilities as well as ESG aspects such as waste management, safety and security, electrical and utilities management, etc.

According to the FY2022 survey results, we received a net promote score of 88%, a 2% increase in the score from last year. Results of the survey indicated that 86% of the respondents were satisfied with the ESG practices adopted at Embassy, which is also a 2% increase from the previous year. 87% of the respondents also indicated that they were satisfied with the EHS and wellbeing initiatives at our properties.

In our FY2022 CSAT survey, we received an overwhelming response from 169 occupiers, corresponding to a 71% survey participation rate. We committed to contributing ₹1,000 for every survey completed and thereby donated a sum of ₹1,69,000 to our CSR partner The Anonymous Indian Charitable Trust.

Occupiers were highly satisfied with Embassy REIT’s ESG initiatives and programs as well as our COVID-19 prevention initiatives and protocol implementation, including support for occupiers’ vaccination drives. Other areas of strengths highlighted by the survey were utility management, landscaping, and safety aspects especially for women employees in Embassy REIT’s business parks. Some areas of improvement suggested by the survey were rectification of water seepage issues at certain buildings, replacement of conventional CFL with LED lights, general upkeep of parking areas, introducing RFID/automated parking and more EV charging stations and increasing in number of women security guards. We have created specific action plans to address the improvement suggestions noted from this survey results. Such surveys and engagement with our occupiers helps us to continuously assess and improve our services and endeavours to provide world-class office spaces and experiences to our 200+ corporate occupiers.

As India develops, the volumes of waste generated are also increasing. To encourage responsible waste management practices in and around our business parks, we have rolled out EcoGram, a project that encourages villages near our business parks to segregate their waste and reduce the volumes reaching landfills.

The EcoGram project is an initiative started in 2016 by ‘The Anonymous India Charitable Trust (TAICT)’ and implemented in 9 villages of the Bettahalasuru Gram Panchayat in North Bengaluru. The vision behind EcoGram is to create model Gram Panchayats by building processes and infrastructure for sustainable decentralised waste management, soil quality and water conservation and strengthen the foundations of responsible growth by bringing together community members, local governments and funding organisations.

Before the start of EcoGram Project, garbage from around 2500 waste generators (at the rate of 53 metric tons per month) was being dumped and burnt, causing air, water and soil pollution. Our environmental and waste management initiatives have led to high levels of segregation in the villages we operate in, through enthusiastic community participation and awareness. Dry waste is sorted in a collection centre into 35 categories and sold to aggregators and recyclers. Rejected dry, sanitary and mixed waste is sent to government-approved landfills. We conduct weekly monitoring of operations based on 15 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Our initiatives have impacted around 2,800 households and ten bulk waste generators in FY2022. We collected 332 metric tons of wet and dry waste and recycled over 120 metric tons of dry waste. In addition, we conducted 12 workshops and awareness sessions on waste segregation and management for 617 beneficiaries during FY2022.

Embassy REIT was awarded a 5-star rating by GRESB, the leading global ESG standard for real estate and infrastructure investments, for its entire 42.8 msf operational and development portfolio. GRESB has also recognized Embassy REIT as a Sector Leader for office development in Asia for its sustainability leadership, a milestone for an Indian REIT. Embassy REIT achieved an overall GRESB score of 96% for its Development portfolio and 87% for its Standing Investment portfolio. Embassy REIT stood out with a full score on the ‘Governance’ pillar of the GRESB Real Estate assessment, reflecting the best-in-class corporate governance standards adopted and followed by the REIT.

Embassy REIT conducted an Employee Engagement Survey during FY2022 through an independent agency Gallup and witnessed a 91% participation from permanent employees. The overall engagement score for the year stood at 4.01 (on a scale of 5) as compared to a 3.97 score in FY2020. The survey helped us to analyse employee sentiments and gather valuable feedback to get actionable insights and chart out specific plans to improve the overall experience of our employees.

The survey results highlighted a few areas which were highly appreciated by the employees like transparent, supportive, open and friendly work environment, dynamic management and empathetic leadership. Areas to improve engagement such as more collaboration and team bonding initiatives were also highlighted as these engagements had reduced due to work from home and COVID-19 related restrictions. Specific action plans for FY2023 have been created to address the feedback after gathering inputs from the leadership, people managers and the human resources team. Some of the planned initiatives include an integrated office setup with regular team interactions, more frequent connects, team engagement activities and knowledge sharing sessions.

We have expanded our sustainability strategy to our capital structure by seeking opportunities to raise green debt or to certify existing debt as green. In October 2021, Embassy REIT raised SPV-level debt of ₹6.5 billion from Axis Bank which was used to refinance a construction loan for its 100 MW solar project in Bellary, Karnataka. In February 2022, an additional loan of ₹800 million was secured for the ongoing construction of one of Asia’s largest solar rooftop projects of over 20 MW scale across pan-India properties of Embassy REIT.

In March 2022, for these 2 loans totalling ₹7.3 billion, we received a green loan certification from the Climate Bonds Initiative, an investor-focused international not-for-profit organization working to mobilize global capital for climate action towards a low carbon and climate resilient economy. With this, Embassy REIT became the first organization in the Indian real estate sector to receive a green loan certification from Climate Bonds.

Post this certification, we secured total cumulative sustainable financing of around ₹22 billion, much ahead of our earlier announced FY2024 target of ₹10 billion. With this, around 50% of our total SPV-level debt and 16% of our total debt book comprises of green loans. We continue to work towards oursustainability vision by scaling up our ongoing ESG programs and commitments. In line with this, we upgraded our cumulative green financing target to ₹35 billion by FY2025

Water is a scarce resource and taking steps to conserve it is critical for the continued well-being of humanity. In this regard, we are working to rejuvenate two lakes in Bengaluru as part of the EcoGram project. Guided by Dr Vincent Paul Raj, an expert on Miyawaki afforestation and Vetiver plantation, we are supporting the building of bunds around the adopted lakes as a natural reinforcement system. With our implementation partner, we planted 16,000 Vetiver saplings around Tarahunise lake and 40,000 saplings around the Thimmasandra lake. Additionally, with the help of the Forest Department and Gram Panchayat, 900 other saplings were planted around the Thimmasandra lake, of which 70 saplings are lake-friendly native species. More than 100 native tree saplings were also planted around the Tarahunise lake

We are also conducting bi-annual tests to check the quality of water of these two lakes and have also installed trash bins around the lakes and conduct drives to regularly remove litter and weeds to keep the surroundings clean. Further, in partnership with NGOs BIOME and Myrada, we conducted awareness sessions for rainwater harvesting and recharging wells.

The Express Towers building in Mumbai was built in 1973 when STP installation was not mandatory as the building came up before the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification published in 2004. However, keeping our ESG-led operations in mind, we installed an STP in Express Towers in FY2022, going beyond compliance obligations.

Constructing the STP in the building was not without its challenges. The basement where the STP was to be built offered little space and had a low ceiling. Therefore, we had to shift the existing MEP store in the basement to another location to make space. The compact bio cast technology used for construction helped us complete 80% of the effort off-site in the factory, with only 20% of the activities being done on-site. This helped minimise the disruptions caused by on-site civil work to business as usual operations.

We commissioned the 65 KLD MBBR STP in May 2021. It has been operating at close to optimal capacity since June 2021. This recycled water is used in the toilet flushes, cooling towers, and gardens, thereby reducing our dependency on tankers and other fresh water sources.