Starlight Investments displayed its dedication to sustainability again in 2023.

The Toronto-based company’s latest sustainability report shows that the global firm invested in 2,140 suite upgrades last year. To date, the company has spent over $833 million in improvements over the first five years of ownership of its buildings across its existing Canadian residential portfolio and, of that, more than $117 million has been spent on initiatives that support energy and water reduction.

Meanwhile, since 2019 Starlight’s building enhancement program has reduced energy-use intensity by 14.1%, lowered carbon-emission intensity by 16.3%, and improved resident and commercial tenant satisfaction through a focus on well-being.

In this interview, Glen Hirsh, Starlight’s global chief operating officer, discusses the report’s findings and the company’s approach to environmental and social governance practices and overall sustainability. He also explains how Starlight aims to invest with impact and drive positive change again in 2024. 

What’s your take, in a nutshell, on the report’s findings?

We’re really proud of the results that are reflected in the report. The positive strides we’re making towards our ESG goals are a direct result of the commitment and hard work of our people and the unwavering support of our investors, our partners and our communities. Seeing the evolution of our corporate commitment to sustainability over the past several years is truly inspiring.

The quality of this report and the messages it conveys demonstrate our team’s dedication to making an impact in the communities we serve. Several years ago, we developed a formal strategy around ESG and crafted a set of sustainability commitments that help drive our targets and activities. These are social impact, operations and development, people and culture and transparency and accountability.

When we look at social impact, this refers to our aim of bringing value to the communities that we serve and to our residents. When we deal with operations and development, I’m speaking to our commitment to maintaining low-carbon, resource-efficient spaces. With people and culture, I’m referring to our most important asset, which is our people. And, we focus on retaining and attracting top talent and creating an environment where people can thrive.

Finally, transparency and accountability. This refers to the dedication and the commitment revolved around risk management and good governance. So, as we strive to achieve our ambitious sustainability goals, this report offers a tool to measure our progress and how we’re succeeding over time.

What are three points in the report that are important but may not stand out in comparison to the others?

There were so many significant achievements in 2023 reflected in the report. However, if I had to highlight three that deserve recognition for having an impact, I would say the first would be our 16.3% reduction in carbon emissions since 2019. A close second would be the results of our Canadian resident satisfaction survey that found that 86% of our respondents value the building improvements that we undertake, thus reinforcing our dedication to investing in our communities.

And, the third would be our work with our three major sponsorship programs, the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, Make-a-Wish Canada and Habitat for Humanity Canada. Our relationship with these organizations showcases our commitment to giving back to the communities we operate in.

What is Starlight’s view on investing in sustainability?

Quite simply, sustainability is a mindset for us. Our focus on this is aligned with our broader purpose to invest with impact and drive social and economic growth through real estate. A few examples of where we invest in sustainable practices include employing sustainable design in our building enhancement program, using healthy materials and creating amenities that support health and wellness and community building, and reducing our carbon footprint through developing our net-zero transition plan.

We achieve this through higher-efficiency HVAC systems and transitioning away from equipment that uses gas, enhancing the livability and well-being of our residents through suite upgrades and improved amenities, and finally, developing complete communities to address housing shortages.

How many people do you have dedicated to the sustainability program?

We have a VP of ESG, with  an analyst that supports that group. That group ultimately reports into me. We’ve also formed an ESG Steering Committee that’s comprised of over a dozen folks from around the organization within our different business lines and departments, all supporting the ESG initiatives. So if you look at the size of the group, it is comprised of colleagues from all levels of the company and expands out to the broader organization through our various committees that have a lens of looking at our business from a sustainability viewpoint.

How have the company’s sustainability-related improvements changed between 2019 and now? And, what is Starlight doing that it didn’t do back then?

Starlight has invested in making a number of sustainability changes since 2019. One example would be climate mitigation and adaptation. We developed our pathway to net zero by 2050. This included undertaking building specific decarbonization studies to help us understand the changes we need to make in our buildings to reduce emissions. We undertook climate-risk assessments to understand physical and transition risks. We will use this in part to guide us in how we implement physical resilience measures to extreme heat, storms, flooding, wildfires and drought for higher-risk communities.

Another would be data management. Good, quality utility data helps us to understand how our communities are performing when it comes to energy and water use and waste. Since 2019, we’ve implemented an internal platform that helps us to consistently and accurately collect this data, and we use the data for benchmarking, analytics, tracking critical variances and as part of our annual Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) submission. We started participating in GRESB in 2022.

And finally, Impact Day. In 2023 we had our first Impact Day where our over 350 employees volunteered across 13 different local charities to experience having a tangible and positive impact on our local neighbourhoods.

How much do you see the company investing in sustainability projects over the next year?

Looking ahead, we remain committed to investing with impact and driving positive change. We prioritize our sustainability goals that feed into the decisions on where we spend our capital to improve the performance of our communities and the experience of our residents and commercial tenants. For years, we’ve had an ongoing program of improving efficiency across our whole portfolio. Examples include installing low-flow faucets and shower heads, high-efficiency three-litre toilets, LED lighting upgrades and window replacements.

This year, we’re working on our overall approach to prioritizing our communities for decarbonization. We want to start implementing decarbonization projects focused on shifting away from the use of natural gas. We also continue to invest in sustainability related events and campaigns in our communities raising awareness on issues such as the sorting of waste into three different waste streams (such as organics, recycling and general waste), how to be more energy and water conscious and fundraising for local charities.

Furthermore, Starlight makes improvements to our suites across our entire portfolio on an ongoing basis. As you know, Canada’s rental stock is aging. As a result, we make efforts to assess and modernize our suites, which can include replacing the vanity, tub, cabinetry, flooring, etc. Overall, our building-enhancement program aims to provide our residents and commercial tenants with healthy, efficient, comfortable and safe spaces. In terms of net new housing, we have a development pipeline positioned to deliver over 28,000 rental suites over the next 10 years in markets across Canada.