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This is Investa's fourth and most comprehensive sustainability report and our first designed specifically for online access. We decided to go electronic for three principal reasons: improved service and accessibility for our stakeholders, lower cost and lower environmental impact. In many respects, this reflects our approach to corporate social responsibility, or 'sustainability'. At Investa, we pursue excellence and are always seeking to do things even better and more efficiently. I am pleased to see the challenge set down for our 2006 sustainability report has produced a quality document which makes key information easier to find, while at the same time delivering a financial saving and a sharply reducing environmental impact. Investa is justifiably proud of its focus on sustainability. Our record on that front is unmatched in the sector and we are now the leading company on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) both for Real Estate and the Financial Services supersector. Significantly, our pursuit of sustainability is not just for its own sake, but an integrated approach which stems from the desire to continually improve efficiency, with the aim of delivering high-quality financial performance for our securityholders and quality services to our customers, and to do so on a socially and environmentally responsible basis. In this context, it is pleasing to note that the three-year targets we set out to achieve for energy (15% reduction), water (25% reduction) and waste (50% diversion) by 30 June 2006 have been met. Investa is a service-oriented organisation. We therefore need to be mindful of our customers' expectations. Increasingly, those expectations are extending to better social and environmental responsibility. It is now rare to see a major leasing brief without some specific sustainability requirements and in some instances, such as with the thirteen year lease renewal at the State Law Building in Brisbane, we have been able to convert such requirements into higher valuations for our buildings. Governments and consumers are also insisting on greater environmental performance for new residential, commercial and industrial property developments. We welcome this increasing awareness and have been anticipating it for a number of years. Financial Year 2006 produced many highlights on the sustainability front for Investa. We look forward to receiving feedback on the report, which we will use to help us further improve again next year. John Arthur |
