The principle of kokoro which often translates to heart, actually has a range of meanings which include wisdom, sincerity and sensibility. To us kokoro embodies how we approach sustainability in its widest context – to be a custodian of the resources we utilise for the benefit of future generations.
Today, our impact as humans on the biosphere has led us to anthropogenic mass or human-made mass exceeding overall living biomass on this planet.
Most of this human-made mass comes in the form of buildings and infrastructure, composed of concrete, aggregates, bricks and asphalt that produce c.40% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change to some could be considered a tail risk, but like a pandemic the consequences could be severe for our civilisation. Therefore we believe buildings we own need to both consider the resources they consume and be resilient to both climate change and societal shift.
Develop a Net Zero Carbon Strategy.
Measure portfolio Net Zero Carbon Scope 1 & 2 emissions for each asset by March 2026.
Each investment we own has a sustainability plan, this is in-built into our investment process and impacts our underwriting. For instance, will a greener building command higher rents and be more resilient producing less volatility in exit yield? Our aim is to make our built environment better in every way under own ownership. That means understanding the lifecycle of our buildings, including the embodied carbon we are adding to buildings through refurbishment and the operational carbon our stakeholders emit in utilising our buildings.
We are currently assessing our buildings with BREEAM but we are not wedded to any particular standard and look to the most appropriate assessment for the investment. Law sets the minimum standard but we are more aspirational.
Transition all our buildings to fully electric power by 2030.
Develop better granularity on energy and water consumption data across the portfolio.
Set targets for reduced energy and water consumption across the portfolio for 2025 and beyond.
Develop better granularity on waste production and recycling data across the portfolio.
Develop asset-level plans for phasing out of gas by 2030.
Develop and implement a comprehensive metering strategy on all assets across the portfolio and different strategy lines.
Set targets to reduce energy and water consumption levels.
Develop and implement a comprehensive waste strategy on an asset level.
We are cognisant that everyone we engage with is on their own net zero pathway and therefore our goal is to make engagement mutually beneficial. We ask all our new tenants to sign green leases and where we have incumbent tenants to engage in operational assessments. Sometimes just helping tenants to better understand the equipment in the office, the building management systems and/or energy management systems can provide a cue for changing habits.
The list of people we engage with in order to successfully execute an investment are numerous, our goal in bringing together a team is to ensure we are like minded, for instance we like to understand whether people we appoint believe in paying all of their staff a living wage and have their own sustainability practices in place.
Build an environment where employees can thrive holistically: professionally, mentally, physically, and financially.
Transparent appraisal process.
Jointly set career goals and aspirations including bi-monthly checkins with the Partners.
A market leading benefits package including health and psychiatric insurance coverage.
Employee pay scales are subject to third-party benchmarking.
Establish an environment that promotes a growth mindset, within which employees feel challenged, supported to continuously develop, and share their learnings.
Improve employee awareness of general issues of sustainability via training and awareness-raising initiatives for all.
A clear and transparent performance bonus policy which assigns compensation based upon retention, outperformance and embodying Kokoro either at the LLP or with respect to assets managed by the fund.
Employees are required to contribute to thought leadership and this is demonstrated through (I) memberships to accredited professional bodies, (II) undertaking professional development/CPD (III) maintaining professional qualifications. Financial support is provided for subscriptions, educational loans and industry memberships.
All employees are invited to contribute to improving the firms GRESB rating and are invited to participate in Kokoro committees.
Improve sustainability team awareness through the provision of training and seminars.
Update and include ESG obligation in all role responsibility documents (i.e. core role requirements for all staff).
Its in our DNA to think macro and micro and this is no more evident than the community our investments touch, our social goal is foremost to make sure our stakeholders are happy, we do this by being visible and giving them a level of service which exceeds their expectations.
We also do not like our real estate to feel like fortresses that the community cannot engage in and actively consider how we create social spaces in our buildings. A good example would be our collaboration with Artbox.London, in our Dover Street and Berkeley Street investments, which you can learn more about below.
Engagement.
Alignment to recognised industry standards.
Tenant engagement: ensure an annual ESG meeting is held with all tenants and all new tenants sign a green lease.
Industry alignment: Study and work to create alignment to the industry best practice standards.
From a philanthropic perspective we look for local charity partners and do more than donate money, but time too.
We donate money to a range of charities through our commitment to 1% for the planet but we donate time to 5 which we hope will grow in lock step with our team.
Charitable Giving.
Donation Matching Policy and set up and launch Payroll Giving.
Renew annual partnership with 1% for the Planet.
Volunteering: Encourage staff to donate their time to causes they feel passionate about.
From a diversity and inclusion perspective we are partnering with both Upreach and Neurodiversity in Business, we hope adding our voice to their causes magnifies their impact.
We believe in the network effect, whether it’s providing people without a natural network access to ours and/or using our interactions to talk about their causes.
Embed diversity and inclusion into our processes and culture and ensure our environment promotes and protects respect and psychological safety.
Use a double blind hiring policy, ensure equality in pay bandings.
Participate with the social mobility charity, Upreach, in providing work experience to disadvantaged students.
Re-draft version of the DEI Policy to include these initiatives.
Beyond real estate we encourage the team to stretch their minds, promoting angel investing in social impact businesses broaden our lens to consider all of the United Nations Sustainability Goals. See below some of the companies we have invested in.
and the list is growing.
Social Impact Investment Policy.
Actively encourage every Tokoro employee to dedicate time to a non-profit.
Publish list of organisations being supported on website and provide ongoing support.
Ultimately we are guided by our mandate to create sustainable real estate that generates outsized risk weighted returns for our investors whilst enriching our planet and its inhabitants. We believe these are not incompatible goals.
Deliver projects sustainably, considering the amount of intervention appropriate, whilst generating outsized risk weighted returns for our investors.
All developments to be fully electric power.
All developments to be EPC B equivalent or higher.
All developments to be BREEAM Very Good or equivalent.
Deliver projects sustainably, considering the amount of intervention appropriate, whilst generating outsized risk weighted returns for our investors.
All developments to be fully electric power.
All developments to be EPC B equivalent or higher.
All developments to be BREEAM Very Good or equivalent.
Deliver projects sustainably, considering the amount of intervention appropriate, whilst generating outsized risk weighted returns for our investors.
All developments to be EPC C equivalent or higher.
Investigate the use of on-site renewable power generation on a case-by-case basis, such as photovoltaic panels.
Deliver projects sustainably, considering the amount of intervention appropriate, whilst generating outsized risk weighted returns for our investors.
Improve supply of safe and affordable housing.
All developments to be EPC C equivalent or higher.
Publish an affordability score vs competition.
Increase supply by conversion/refurbishment of tired properties to meet market demand. Refurbishments to be performed to a high level.
Following refurbishment, donation of all unused FFE to charitable organisations in local areas.
For more detailed information regarding our Sustainability Strategy (including KPIs), please click here.
Our business is B Corp Certified.
