Case study: How alstria creates economic value for its stakeholders
alstria office REIT-AG is Germany’s leading office real estate company, owning and managing a portfolio of 116 buildings with a lettable area of around 1.5 million m² and a total value of EUR 4.5 billion. Its solid financial performance allows alstria to create new, well-paying jobs and gives it the opportunity to contribute to the communities in which it operates, generating value for its stakeholders.
This case study is based on the 2019/20 Sustainability Report by alstria, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Inclusive financial growth, not least by generating and distributing economic value to all its stakeholders, is a top priority for alstria. Tweet This! In order to create economic value for its stakeholders alstria took action to:
- create economic value for suppliers and contractors, shareholders and debt providers
- create economic value for the government, employees and local communities
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) alstria has identified;
- How alstria proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by alstria to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019/20 Sustainability Report alstria identified a range of material issues, such as ethics and integrity, energy efficiency, contribution to communities, waste management. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for alstria.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups alstria engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Business partners
| · One-on-one dialogue before new business relationships · Weekly meetings with contractors during construction · Complaint hotline |
| Employees | · Employee surveys · Annual appraisal meetings · Internal media · Open-door policy · Workshops |
| Tenants | · One-on-one meetings with alstria’s property managers · Social media posts · Online tenant portals · Tenant surveys |
| Local communities
| · Press events · Social media posts · Site visits |
| Investors
| · Roadshows · Conferences and site visits · Direct dialogue and voting rights at the Annual General Meeting · Round tables |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics alstria engaged with its stakeholders through a survey that was sent to 1,420 identified stakeholders, who included shareholders, debt providers, analysts, tenants, employees, press and others.
What actions were taken by alstria to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2019/20 Sustainability Report alstria reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for suppliers and contractors, shareholders and debt providers
- In 2019, alstria:
- paid EUR 129.8 m to suppliers and contractors
- spent EUR 92.3 m in dividends (and EUR 1.8 m of Green Dividend) to shareholders
- paid EUR 27.5 m to debt providers in interest
- Creating economic value for the government, employees and local communities
- In 2019, alstria:
- paid EUR 19.6 m to the government in taxes (EUR 8.2 m paid in taxes on land and buildings as an agent)
- spent EUR 18.4 m in employee salaries
- spent EUR 0.6 m in local contributions, for local communities
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed
Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.1, 8.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5
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References:
This case study is based on published information by alstria, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://alstria.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/alstria_Sustainability_Report_2019_2020.pdf
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