KingSett Capital invests in sustainable, innovative solutions that enhance communities, mitigate risk and reduce environmental impact.
KingSett Capital’s Role in Steering Real Estate Towards Climate Goals
Real estate as an industry plays a significant role in achieving the global warming cap of 1.5C by 2050 set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. KingSett Capital, a leading Canadian real estate private equity firm, is taking steps to ensure the industry seizes this opportunity, for the benefit of its investors and the broader community.
KingSett’s core business focuses on creating and co-investing in real estate investment solutions to deliver sustainable premium risk weighted returns. The firm, founded in 2002, has $18 billion of assets under management in its Growth, Income, Urban, Mortgage, Affordable Housing and Residential Development fund strategies. At the foundation of its business is a firm commitment to investing in sustainable, innovative solutions that enhance communities, mitigate risk and reduce our environmental impact.
ESG Integration in Real Estate: KingSett’s Pioneering Approach
KingSett’s ESG program focuses on doing what is right for the full range of the firm’s stakeholders. KingSett believes in building value through actively managing ESG risks and opportunities associated with the ownership, development and management of real estate across each asset’s entire lifecycle.
“We are driven by the opportunities and innovation ESG integration presents in real estate,” says Kit Milnes, Vice President, Sustainability and Resilience at KingSett. “We believe our ESG leadership is a competitive advantage and a true value creator. By incorporating this into our decision-making processes we create value economically, ethically, socially and environmentally.”
KingSett’s ESG program has six core components:
- Embed ESG and responsible investing considerations into all the firm’s business processes.
- Set meaningful reduction targets and execute decarbonization initiatives.
- Meet or exceed the firm’s sustainable development guidelines and objectives.
- Identify, assess and manage the physical and transition climate risks and opportunities its assets and portfolios face, drive positive social change in the community and partner with charities.
- Leverage a multi-disciplinary ESG Committee to guide the evolution of this ESG program over time.
Achieving Decarbonization in Real Estate: KingSett’s Progressive Targets and Tools
In 2020, KingSett developed a multi-year decarbonization plan for its existing properties and set a goal to eliminate 35% of carbon emissions from the assets held in the firm’s core fund by 2027, and 85% of the emissions from one of its flagship assets, the historic Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto, by 2023. To date, KingSett has successfully decarbonized and achieved Zero Carbon Building Performance certifications across over 2 million sq ft of office space and it has completed the decarbonization of the Fairmont Royal York, including eliminating over 7,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from the hotel annually and certifying it to the Zero Carbon Building Performance Standard.
Importantly, KingSett believes that the urgency for cutting climate emissions across the world is so important that it has made its Building Decarbonization Modelling tool available for free to anyone who wishes to use it. The KingSett team continues to use this tool to help it make informed, data-driven decisions as the firm continues to decarbonize its real estate portfolio.
“It is imperative that we take immediate action to significantly reduce, and ultimately eliminate the negative impacts that buildings have on the environment. I am proud that KingSett is taking meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions and do its part to move us closer to meeting the Paris Climate Agreement target,” added Milnes.
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