Kelly Meissner, vice president of corporate ESG and sustainability at Ventas (NYSE: VTR), sat down for a video interview at Nareit’s REITworks: 2024 Sustainability & Social Responsibility Conference, held in McLean, Virginia from Sept. 10-12. Ventas won Nareit’s 2024 Impact at Scale award.
Ventas’s innovative and scalable approach toward creating property-specific net zero roadmaps by using machine learning, AI, and physics-based modeling, led to its award win. In 2022, Ventas became the first healthcare REIT to establish a net zero target, committing to achieve net zero operational carbon emissions by 2040.
“These roadmaps guide each of our assets to become as energy-efficient and electrified as possible by 2040,” she said.
In 2023, in collaboration with a leading global management consulting firm with expertise in real estate and decarbonization, Ventas developed an innovative and scalable approach to create property-specific net zero roadmaps for all 800 properties within its operational control that contribute to scopes 1 and 2 emissions. These roadmaps guide Ventas’ building operators through specific steps from 2023 to 2040, including estimated costs and operational cost savings from energy reduction.
“We think about decarbonization and how it drives value by making our buildings more energy efficient,” Meissner noted, highlighting Ventas’s commitment to reducing operational carbon across its 900 health care properties, which span more than 80 million square feet.
The roadmaps contain 17 action categories, such as HVAC equipment, domestic hot water, insulation, heat recovery, demand control ventilation, appliances, building energy management systems, LED lighting, and electrical studies.
Ventas notes that a key success factor in the implementation of the roadmaps is integration into the REIT’s routine capital expenditure planning process. Ventas spends tens of millions of dollars annually replacing equipment, so it is critical to leverage this existing spend and ensure equipment replacements going forward are completed with consideration for its net zero goal and in accordance with the roadmaps.
The successful implementation of the roadmaps requires buy-in from internal teams and external operators, coupled with seamless integration into Ventas’s capital planning processes. Meissner shared that each year’s replacement cycle is aligned with decarbonization goals, ensuring that every new HVAC, lighting, and roofing investment supports sustainability.
Looking ahead, Ventas plans to expand onsite solar, optimize renewable energy procurement, and leverage tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act to support these initiatives.