SKANSKA’s commercial development business unit in CEE

SKANSKA's commercial development business unit in CEE

Katarzyna Zawodna-Bijoch

We have long-term experience in reporting on environmental, social and governance matters, and to share this experience with our customers as ESG reporting becomes a regulatory requirement and market standard. Between 1997 and 2002 we published reports focused on our environmental impact. Since 2002 we have been producing a progress review of our sustainability efforts: firstly in form of a separate publication, which was followed by including sustainability into our annual report to reflect its strategic importance. Skanska is reporting in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) “core” sustainability reporting guidelines.

Our office buildings are climate-smart and support the well-being of their users, as confirmed by relevant globally recognized certifications: LEED and WELL respectively. Additionally, in Poland, our projects are subject to ‘Building without barriers’ (Orig. ‘Budynek bez barier) certification, which confirms that they support various needs of tenants and visitors, including those of individuals with disabilities, parents with children, seniors and those who do not speak Polish.

Our goal is to transition to low-carbon construction across all our projects and ultimately reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. This includes an interim target to reduce our own emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 70 percent by 2030 and the value chain emissions from our project development (scope 3) by 50 percent by 2030. Our climate target is science-based according to the requirements of the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). It has been accredited to be in line with the reductions required to keep global warming to 1.5°C, the goal of the Paris Agreement. We take a holistic approach to designing and building low-carbon projects, incorporating resource efficiency, recycling, renewable energy, electrification and digitalization. We use low-carbon solutions in our o projects (e.g., low-emission concrete, which was used on a large scale for thd P180 office building in Warsaw) and climate-smart solutions in the neighborhood of its projects (e.g. replacing the traditional concrete used to build pavements with green concrete, which cleans the air and reduces the concentration of nitrogen oxides NOx that are hazardous to human health), use grey water management systems, create partnerships to accelerate green transformation (e.g. with Go4Energy and Transition Technologies within the BMSCare project, which enables better use of building data, increasing energy efficiency), use wind energy to power our office buildings (100% in case of Centrum Południe in Wrocław), etc.

Skanska office unit in CEE runs awareness campaigns for employees (e.g. during annual Safety Week), takes its office projects through WELL certification processes to obtain relevant certificates, as well as through the ‘Building without barriers’ certification, which confirms inclusiveness of individuals with disabilities, invests in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) (Place of Pride LGBTQ+ Network that gathers employees who are part of the LGBTQ community and allies and Body & Mind Network that brings together employees with visible & non-visible disabilities), ensures gender balance and female representation in the leadership team (CEO & CFO are female). The space our employees use is certified by WELL, "Company without barriers" and "Biznes nie wyklucza" (LGBTQ+). The positive social impact Skanska is making is not limited to internal, the company also supports the external communities, for example by responding with resources and employees' willingness to help when unexpected needs arise (e. g. by offering one of its office buildings in Warsaw to be used as a shelter for war refugees from Ukraine) or needs where we can use our expertise to help (e. g. the renovation in Centrum Zdrowia Dziecka in Warsaw) and working with local communities while designing the surroundings of its buildings to better support the needs of these communities (e. g. greenery, sports facilities and publicly accessibly toilets across our locations or "Supersciezka" in KRAKOW).

We are committed to doing business with the highest degree of integrity and transparency and we expect those we work with to share these values. ‘Act Ethically and Transparently’ is one of our values, and our comprehensive Code of Conduct is key to our ability to live up to it. It stipulates how all employees should work and interact every day with colleagues, customers and other stakeholders. It is supplemented by the Supplier Code of Conduct, which all our subcontractors, suppliers, consultants, intermediaries and agents must adhere to. The Supplier Code of Conduct is included in our agreements with these parties and outlines the expectations we have for the partners we do business with. It also requires that the same principles flow down the suppliers’ own supply chains.