Environmental Stewardship

Environmental Stewardship

As owners of commercial real estate, we recognize the need for responsible and sustainable environmental policies and practices. To that end, we seek to minimize our overall impact on the environment within the context of our business and encourage environmentally responsible behavior among our employees, vendors, and other business relationships.

We are a real estate investment trust that acquires, owns, and manages primarily single-tenant commercial real estate properties that are subject to net leases. Pursuant to the terms of our leases, our tenants are solely responsible for operating their businesses, including having day-to-day control of each property. As a result, our tenants control their energy usage and have the ultimate say of when and how to implement environmentally responsible practices at our properties. While we do not control our tenant businesses, we recognize that the operation of commercial real estate assets can have a meaningful impact on the environment and believe that we can contribute to the implementation of environmentally responsible and sustainable practices by being conscious of and seeking to address environmental impacts within our control and supporting our tenants to do the same.

 

Efforts and Achievements:

  • ‘Go Green’ initiatives at our main headquarters in Rochester, NY and each regional office located in Phoenix, AZ and Dallas, TX. Employees are encouraged to get involved and identify additional areas to improve:
    • Paper Reduction Initiatives via ongoing investments in technology. BNL employees are provided with hardware and software supporting electronic document processing, review and signature, e-transactions, and accounting. When printing is necessary, device settings default to two-sided, low toner use.
    • Energy Conservation and Waste Recycling Programs in consultation with building owners, managers, and third-party contractors to reduce electric and water consumption and recycle paper, plastic, and aluminum waste, as well as packaging waste, toner and other electronics and equipment related waste.
    • Refreshment Waste Reduction by providing hot and cold reusable drink vessels to employees, paired with self-serve stations for various beverages, Broadstone is working to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of disposable cups, straws, and bottles in our offices. Offerings are reviewed periodically to determine additional opportunities to use products made from recycled materials, and partner with vendors also focused on conservation.
    • Annual Electronics Recycling events are hosted to provide employees with a means of disposing of personal unused or obsolete electronic devices with a certified third-party.
    • ENERGY STAR-certified devices, equipment, and appliances
  • Real Estate Investment Assessment of every property we consider for acquisition based on current industry standards and best practices. Environmental conditions and risks are carefully reviewed and mitigated by a cross-functional team as part of our customary pre-acquisition due diligence process. This includes obtaining a Phase I environmental assessment (a “Phase I”) for each property. We review each Phase I to understand the environmental condition of a property and to determine whether the property and operations on the property meet applicable environmental standards and, to the extent needed, remediate any discovered environmental concerns discovered at a property.
  • Ongoing Insurance Evaluations are conducted for each property in our portfolio to ensure appropriate coverage is in place, either directly or through the tenant pursuant to the terms of our leases, or necessary financial resources provided to address any unforeseen environmental issue, natural disaster, or other risk based on industry best practices.
  • Engaging With Our Tenants regarding environmentally responsible and sustainable practices and initiatives plays an important role in our sustainability efforts given the nature of our business. We oversee property-level improvements that promote and encourage responsible and sustainable practices. Recent initiatives include:
    • Funding of expansion projects valued at more than $28 million for an industrial tenant that included significant building elements designed to improve building energy performance, including sustainable and energy efficient insulated building panels and suspended walkable ceiling systems, as well as high-efficiency HVAC units, with additional commitments valued at more than $20 million planned for 2023;
    • The installation of white TPO or “cool roofs,” which are intended to lower the roof surface temperature, decreasing the amount of heat transferred into the building with a correlated reduction to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions resulting from operations within the building, at five existing properties; and
    • Waiving legal fees associated with review and consent of environmentally conscious and responsible improvements at our properties.