Sustainability
Our first duty is to act in the best long-term interests of our investors. In this fiduciary role, we believe that operating in accordance with principles of sustainability - sound environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and good corporate governance – can positively affect the performance of investment portfolios. As a company that participates in the development, ownership and management of places that people live and work, we are always aware of the part we play in society and the responsibilities we have to our stakeholders – those of the present and of generations to come. Integrating these principles into our decision-making and operations is a reflection of our core values and better aligns our investors with the broader objectives of society. Where consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities, we commit to the following:
- To incorporate sustainable principles into our investment and development decisions.
• Ensuring that our principles and commitments to stakeholders are reflected in what we do and how we do it - To incorporate sustainable principles into the way we manage and operate our properties.
• Ensuring all stakeholders are treated respectfully and fairly
• Reducing energy use and environmental impacts
• Reducing utility costs and improving quality of life for our residents - To incorporate sustainable criteria into the selection of entities that we invest in and partner with.
• Ensuring that our partners operate in ways consistent with our principles and commitments to stakeholders - To report on our activities and progress we make towards integrating sustainability into our operations.
• Ensuring transparency and accountability to our stakeholders
Energy & Environment
Westplan’s energy and environmental policy is natural extension of its mission to provide superior and lasting value for its investors, partners and residents. Our unwavering goal is to continuously improve the environmental and energy performance of the properties in our portfolio. We are doing this through incorporating green building into our new development projects and establishing a program of monitoring and best management practices for our current portfolio. We focus our efforts in these areas:
• Reducing energy use and emissions
• Reducing water consumption
• Reducing resource consumption and waste and
• Improving indoor air quality
Guiding Principles
Guiding Principles These guiding principles are the basis for our decisions and actions in the areas of human rights, labor standards, anti-corruption and the environment. They are consistent with, and represent a conscious connection to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHD), the UN Global Compact, and the UN Principles of Responsible Investment.
• Westplan supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and works to ensure that we are not complicit in human rights abuses within our sphere of influence.
• We believe that people are entitled to be treated with dignity and given fair and just remuneration for their work. We further believe that people treated in this way are more productive, invest more of themselves in their work and create more value.
• Westplan believes that all people should be treated equally and supports equal opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind, which includes any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, physical disability, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.
• We support the rights of employees, without any distinction or reservation, to establish or join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization and recognize their right to collective bargaining.
• Westplan adheres to local labor laws and regulations and works to ensure that our partners and investment entities do the same. We support the elimination of forms of forced, compulsory or child labor and work to ensure that we are not contributing to these through any part of our value chain.
• Westplan will not participate, directly or indirectly, in any form of corruption, including bribery, extortion or cartel formation.
• Westplan believes that a healthy environment is critical to a long-term, healthy economy and that businesses have a responsibility to utilize finite natural resources efficiently and to disturb natural systems as little as possible. We are committed, at minimum, to complying with all applicable environmental laws. We support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges and take steps to prevent, manage and reduce our environmental impact within our sphere of influence whenever possible.