Ratings

We actively communicate our progress in terms of sustainability to the capital market, where ESG criteria are becoming an increasingly important factor in investment decisions. This allows us to maintain and even increase our attractiveness for investors over the long term.

Potential investors frequently look at the position of our company in recognized sustainability rankings and the resulting indices. That’s why we participate in a wide range of national and international sustainability ratings and benchmarks. This allows us to measure and present our sustainability performance and relevant key figures against recognized standards and competitors (see chapter Attractiveness on the Capital Market).

Selected Rankings and Results – ESG Ratings:

EPRA – sBPR

The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) evaluates the sustainability transparency of listed real estate companies based on the EPRA Sustainability Best Practice Recommendations (sBRP). In addition to our annual report and sustainability report, we publish a separate EPRA report every year, which is used for this assessment. In 2020, we received the Gold award for our governance, environmental and social performance for the third year running.

CDP – Climate Change

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) helps companies to measure and manage their environmental performance and the associated opportunities and risks. Vonovia has been part of the CDP’s Climate Change Program since 2017. We were awarded a B- rating for our performance in 2020. This puts on the same level as our peer group and above the global and European averages.

Sustainalytics

Sustainalytics is an independent, innovative service provider of responsible investment services. Sustainalytics uses the ESG approach to analyze and evaluate the sustainability performance of companies and countries alike. Vonovia improved its ESG company rating from 58 to 83 points. In the ESG risk rating we received a mark of 7.7, putting us in the lowest risk category of “negligible risks.”

S&P Global CSA

The S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) evaluates the sustainability performance of more than 7,300 international companies. Our performance is assessed in 61 industry-specific categories to encourage companies to bring their corporate strategies into line with social and ecological challenges. Vonovia scored 57 out of a possible 100 points in 2020, more than doubling its score for the previous year (23 points).

ISS-oekom – ESG Corporate Rating

ISS-oekom analyzes a company’s ESG management based on up to 100 criteria, many of which are sector-specific. Vonovia was given Prime status for the first time in 2020, indicating that it is outperforming its peers. The company also improved its rating from C- in 2018 and 2019 to C.

MSCI – ESG Research

MSCI ESG Research rates companies on a scale from AAA to CCC based on their ESG-related risk exposure and how they handle these risks compared to other companies. We were upgraded from BBB to A in the annual ranking for 2019 and maintained this performance in 2020.

GRESB

The GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) is an investor-initiated rating system for the sustainability performance of real estate companies. We made the decision not to participate in 2020 and 2021 following changes to its methodology. We described the reasons for our decision in an open letter. In 2019 we received 58 points in this assessment.

ESG Indices:

Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe

Our outstanding improvement in the S&P CSA led to us being included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index (DJSI) for the first time in 2020. The DJSI index family tracks economic, ecological and social criteria. It was launched in 1999 as a collaboration between Switzerland-based S&P Global (formerly known as SAM) and the Dow Jones Indexes. S&P Global uses positive criteria to select the most sustainable companies for inclusion in the index.