ESG Ratings and Rankings

In March 2024, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) confirmed that the near-term targets set and submitted by Vonovia SE are in line with the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement:     

“Vonovia SE is committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030 compared to the base year 2021. Vonovia SE also aims to decrease absolute Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from the categories ‘Fuel and energy-related activities,’ ‘Use of sold products’ and ‘Downstream leased assets’ by 25% by 2030.”   

This achievement places us among only four companies in the German real estate sector to receive such confirmation from the SBTi. Across Europe, only 37 companies operating in the real estate sector have achieved this.     

The Science-based Target initiative is a non-profit organization that develops standards and benchmarks for determining whether GHG targets are capable of meeting the challenge of keeping global warming below the levels considered critical by the global community and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The SBTi is formed by the CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the We Mean Business Coalition, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 

• 2023: 7,6 score. Negligible Risk
• 2022: 6,7 score. Negligible Risk
• 2021: 6,7 score. Negligible Risk

Sustainalytics considers all three dimensions of the ESG approach to analyze and evaluate the sustainability performance of companies and countries alike. The ESG Risk Rating evaluates how large and active the company’s sustainability risks are. Sustainalytics allocates risks to risk categories for this purpose: “negligible” for a score <10, “low” for a score of 10–20, “medium” (20–30), “high” (30–40) and “severe” for scores >40.   

With a score of 7.6 at the end of 2023, we fall within the lowest risk category. Vonovia is therefore classed as one of the absolute top performers in the industry, and among the top 100 in a global comparison across all industries.

• 2023: A
• 2022: AAA
• 2021: A

MSCI ESG Research rates companies on a scale from AAA to CCC assessing their ESG-related risk exposure and how they handle these risks compared to other companies. Particular focus is given to governance-related issues. Vonovia has placed in the rating’s “A” band since 2019. MSCI noted our governance structures in particular, such as our supervisory structures and detailed anti-corruption guidelines. 

• 2023: A
• 2022: A
• 2021: A 

The GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) is an investor-initiated rating system for the sustainability performance of real estate companies. In 2020, we made the decision to no longer participate in the rating for the time being due to changes in the assessment methodology. We have described the reasons for our decision transparently in the Investor Relations section of our website. However, we are still in contact with GRESB and support potential developments that would lead to the rating system being applicable to residential real estate companies again.

We remain actively engaged in the GRESB Public Disclosure – a transparency analysis of companies’ sustainability reporting – and have consistently achieved a full score (100%) for maximum transparency for the past three years running. The resulting assessment of A (in a scale from A to E) took us to first place in a comparison of German residential real estate companies and is above the global average of B.