Environmental Stewardship

We are committed to operating our company in a manner that is environmentally sustainable. We have made important initial strides in reducing our energy consumption. In addition, during new construction or renovation, we recycle building materials and focus on design solutions that reduce our impact by utilizing environmentally friendly materials and systems, including energy efficient lighting and heating and water saving solutions. We continually monitor our portfolio for opportunities to reduce our environmental impact while balancing the need for us to provide our tenants with cost effective space that is functional, flexible, and safe.


The very nature and purpose of our business also has a separate important environmental benefit in its own right. We launched Plymouth in the industrial real estate space because we believed the global supply chain was evolving. Even before the supply chain disruptions we saw in 2021, rising overseas production and shipping costs were leading many companies to re-shore their operations. Companies also had become increasingly aware that global shipping by sea and air came with rising costs to the environment. Re-shoring supports their own sustainability efforts, and our intentional presence in the US industrial space positions us, in effect, to be a multiplier for these efforts.


In our buildings, electricity usage is the single largest driver of environmental impact. To reduce energy consumption, we are converting lighting systems to highly efficient LED units, and we offer inducements to encourage our tenants to upgrade their lighting systems. After conducting feasibility studies of our portfolio properties, we also are actively pursuing installation of rooftop solar arrays that will be a significant part of our sustainability effort.

Four New Environmentally-Related Policies

As part of the active development of our ESG efforts, our board of directors authorized management to formulate comprehensive environmentally-related policies which were adopted as of November 1, 2022:


Our three major environmental initiatives focus on the main driver of environmental impact for industrial type buildings, which is electricity, and our fourth environmental initiative addresses our broader commitment to green building.

LED Lighting – We continually perform assessments across our portfolio to convert our building lighting systems to energy efficient units which can save significant amounts of energy use. During Lease negotiations with current and prospective tenants, we offer tenant inducements to upgrade lighting to LED units. Below are three recent LED conversion projects:


To date, we have converted 15 million square feet – 44% of our entire portfolio – to LED lighting, which reduces the total electricity consumption across the entire portfolio by approximately 8%. Lighting consumes about 17% of all the energy that our buildings use, and LED lights consume 75% to 90% less energy than conventional lighting. Therefore, we estimate that this transition of more than one third of our portfolio to LED lighting that we achieved in 2022 reduced the overall total energy consumption across our entire portfolio by 5%. Looking ahead we plan to continue to expand our LED retrofitting efforts and achieve conversion for more than 50% of our total portfolio by mid 2024

"By retrofitting more than 44% of our portfolio with LED lighting, we reduced the overall total energy consumption across our entire portfolio by an estimated 8%."


Environmentally Beneficial Roofing Initiatives – We have continued to install “cool” roofs and silicone roof coatings across our portfolio. Cool roofs reduce the energy consumed by our tenants, lower carbon emissions, and increase the life span of our air conditioning units. 

 

We’ve continued to install

  • 14.5 million square feet, or approximately 42% of the portfolio, has “cool roofs,” including 1.72 million square feet of silicone roof coatings which eliminate landfill waste

 

Solar Power – Solar energy is a key component of our ESG efforts. We have partnered with solar consultants to perform comprehensive analyses on all of our buildings to determine the feasibility of utilizing rooftop solar arrays. We have several buildings in our portfolio in which we have now identified for solar power systems, and we are actively pursuing the installation of several of them. 


We have two major solar power installations currently in place, with a third expected to be completed this year producing a total of 2.4 megawatts of renewable energy:

  • 1 megawatt system in Philadelphia
  • 0.3 megawatt system in Peachtree City, Georgia
  • 1.1 megawatt system in our new Portland, Maine warehouse

 

We are also currently contracting for up to 6 megawatts of solar energy in Illinois. The first phase of these new solar power additions, covering 1 million square feet that have leases across 6 rooftops, is expected to be operational by 2024.

Green Building – Finally, we are implementing green building approaches for all our development, renovation, and new tenant improvements We recently certified our four new developments through Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes Core & Shell program. Three of the developments earned 2 Green Globes and the fourth earned 3 Green Globes. Each of these properties feature LED lighting, occupancy sensors, cool roofs, water-efficient native landscaping, and low-flow plumbing fixtures. Another example of our efforts is our renovation of the old original Fisher Body plant – where we recovered and recycled more than 450 tons of steel and eliminated 442 old lighting fixtures and replaced them with 288 LED lighting fixtures..

 

Our Green Building goals are:

  • Achieve at least Silver Recognition through Green Lease Leaders by 2025. (Achieved April 2023)
  • Achieve Gold Recognition through Green Lease Leaders by 2027.
  • From 2022 forward, 100% of all new construction and major renovations will be certified with Green Globes through the Green Building Initiative.

 

To ensure effective green building practices and enable us to be able to achieve the Green Building Institute “Green Globes” certification for all new construction and major renovations from 2022 onward, we are committed to:

  • LED lighting
  • High-efficiency mechanical equipment
  • Incorporating solar power
  • Cool roofs
  • Low VOC paint and finishes
  • Low-flow plumbing fixtures
  • Lighting controls/occupancy sensors
  • Recyclable carpet
  • Native water-efficient landscaping
  • Eliminating toxic materials and waste in construction, renovation, and demolition

Green Lease Leaders


The Green Lease Leaders Program is a recognition and certification program designed to showcase property owners and landlords who are implementing sustainable and energy-efficient leasing practices in their buildings.


The program provides guidance and resources to building owners to help them incorporate environmental goals and sustainability measures into their lease agreements. By participating in the program, Plymouth demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and benefits from improved tenant satisfaction, increased energy efficiency, and reduced operating costs.


Plymouth has earned Silver recognition in the Green Lease Leaders Program for implementing sustainable leasing practices, utilizing green lease clauses, promoting energy efficiency, and collaborating with tenants to achieve significant sustainability in building operations. This recognition signifies Plymouth's active commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our buildings.

Green Globes Certification


During 2021, Plymouth Industrial REIT joined the Green Building Initiative (GBI). GBI is a nonprofit organization and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Developer dedicated to improving building performance and reducing climate impacts. Founded in 2004, the organization is the global provider of the Green Globes® and federal Guiding Principles Compliance building certification and assessment programs.


Plymouth has achieved Green Globes certifications for several of its newly developed industrial buildings. Administered by GBI, Green Globes is a nationally recognized green rating assessment and certification system that ensures projects meet clearly defined criteria in seven assessment areas: Project Management, Site, Energy, Water, Resources, Emissions, and Indoor Environment. In addition to evaluating documentation in each of these performance areas, the Green Globes certification process includes an onsite assessment with a third-party Assessor to verify implementation.

Climate Change Policy & Strategy

We want to do all we can to responsibly combat climate change. To begin, in 2022 we have developed and committed to a climate change policy and strategy. And then based on this policy, we are taking pragmatic action to achieve significant improvements in our energy use.


Climate change is a critical threat to all of us. Plymouth is committed to reducing the impact our buildings have on the environment by improving energy efficiency, increasing our use of renewable energy, and improving climate resilience. While reducing the environmental impact, these measures are also meant to inspire our tenants and move Plymouth into a leadership position among our peers, thereby encouraging progress across our industry.


We are continuing to understand the science and the challenges of climate change and to build our strategy on the basis of sound science and the realities facing all of us. We recognize that the average global temperature has risen more than 2º F since 1880, and we are convinced that we must join in the effort to keep the world below the thresholds detailed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Because about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, we believe we have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference. Climate change is also the most material ESG priority for our investors and many of our key stakeholders. Therefore, tackling climate change is among our highest priorities.

 

Our Climate Change Strategy involves four major components.

 

Our Governance About Climate Change 

This year we created a Sustainability Committee of the Board of Directors, chaired by Independent Director Caitlin Murphy. We also established a Management Committee for Environment & Sustainability, chaired by CEO Jeff Witherell. These two governing bodies are responsible for designing and overseeing our climate policies, strategies, action plans, and progress.

 

Strategy For Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Risk 

We are committed to a climate change strategy of: 

  1. Assessing our energy consumption and Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
  2. Assessing our Scope 3 GHG emissions
  3. Increasing our energy efficiency and reducing our energy consumption
  4. Increasing our use of renewable energy
  5. Educating our tenants about energy efficiency and working with them on their efforts to reduce their energy consumption
  6. Proactively managing our climate-related risks and building increased resilience

 

Managing Climate Change Risk 

We approach risk management associated with climate change in two overlapping phases: 

  1. Identification and assessment of our climate risks – both short- and long-term
  2. Integration of climate risks into our enterprise risk management system

 

Climate Change Metrics and Targets 

Our long-term target is to achieve Net-Zero carbon emissions of our own operations by 2025 and across our entire portfolio (including our Scope 3 emissions) by 2040. We have annual targets to enable us to achieve this long-term goal. The core metrics for which we have annual targets and that we track are: 

  • Energy consumption
  • Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions from our own operations
  • The percentage of all our energy consumption that comes from renewable energy sources
  • Beginning in 2023, we will begin systematically measuring the Scope 3 emissions from our tenants’ energy consumption across our portfolio of assets


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