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TOPA Fort Worth | Ft. Worth, TX
DOC’s senior leadership dedicates resources and tools to measure and manage resource consumption, including energy, water, and waste. We are deeply committed to implementing practices and transparently reporting our results as we work to meet and exceed our benchmarks.
In everything we do, our team is dedicated to developing, owning, and managing a portfolio of buildings that maximizes our health care partners’ comfort, health, and success through fiscally responsible ESG practices.
When pursuing sustainability projects that produce strong results both fiscally and environmentally, LED retrofits are an approachable yet particularly impactful strategy to produce immediate results for DOC, our health care partners, and the communities we serve.
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DOC’s Low- and No-Cost Efficiency Challenge to property managers demonstrated that even simple projects, creatively and strategically implemented, can have an outsized impact.
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Each Earth Day, we team up with property managers and our health care partners across our portfolio to make a difference through focused activities, hosted events, education, and more.
This year, our portfolio-wide theme was “Slam Dunk the Junk,” an electronics and battery recycling campaign to increase waste diversion rates and awareness. In partnership with Waste Management, DOC and its management partners hosted Earth Day electronics and battery recycling events at properties across our portfolio. The result? A big slam dunk - 116 properties at 82 collection sites filled 45 large (450 lbs. capacity) and 86 small (250 lbs. capacity) e-waste boxes and 86 one-gallon battery buckets. But these numbers don’t tell the whole story of the creative ways our management team approached these events.
Learn MoreWe established the following criteria to select properties for our our 2019-2021 ESG reporting:
owned as of January 2018 to determine year-over-year utility spend
multi-tenant properties with readily accessible data to create a like-for-like comparison
buildings over 25,000 SF to maximize ESG impact
We have focused our reporting set on 70 multi-tenant properties in which we have property management services in place and utility information available. These 70 properties represent 4.50M square feet, or 32% of our portfolio.
This report represents the year-over-year data on building performance as part of our three-year ESG plan. As shared in last year’s ESG Report, DOC set 10% reduction targets in energy, emissions, and water consumption, and a 10% waste diversion rate increase for 2019-2021.
While the data for this report stems from our identified subset of properties, our commitment to advancing sustainability projects spans our entire portfolio.
ISOS Group, Inc. conducted an independent third-party, moderate-level assurance for the calendar year ended December 31, 2020 of environmental data, including energy, water, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions calculations. This moderate assurance engagement was performed in accordance with the AccountAbility 1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS) and with reference to ISO 14064-3: Specification with guidance for the validation and assurance of greenhouse gas assertions, World Resources Institute (WRI)/World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, and WRI/WBCSD The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard. The assurance statement may be found here.
DOC recognizes that climate change risk is a global issue that may impact how we run our business, both today and in the future. As such, we continue to look for ways to improve our understanding of climate-related risks. We are working to integrate climate risk variables into our overall risk management process, engaging our senior leadership and our Board of Trustees. To learn more, visit the Risk Management & Reporting section elsewhere in this report here.
Specifically, in the past year, DOC has begun to evaluate the risk profile of our identified portfolio in terms of a variety of potential climate-related exposures. The results of this analysis are below:
*Data from Measurabl’s Climate Risk Module Powered by Four Twenty Seven
No to Low Portfolio Risk: Earthquakes, Floods, and Sea Level Rise
Medium Portfolio Risk: Heat Stress, Hurricanes, Water Stress, and Wildfires
The data collected from Measurabl’s Climate Risk Module helped us proactively identify our highest risks due to property location. DOC is currently implementing preventive strategies to directly address any flagged risks, limiting our risk exposure to potential catastrophes.
Building upon the data in this module, DOC’s Emergency Response Plan guides our procedures at each of our managed properties related to climate-related catastrophes. DOC also utilizes national disaster recovery service agreements that provide an emergency property-level response within 24 hours or less.
Our strategy to mitigate climate-related risks includes two parts:
10% reduction of Scope 1 and 2 GHG Emissions by the end of 2021 (2018 benchmark) at managed properties
Recommit to multi-year GHG targets in 2022 and beyond with an ever-increasing number of properties
Continued commitment to energy efficiency projects such as lighting retrofits and building automation upgrades
Offset our remaining usage with renewable energy solutions, such as solar power
Emergency Response Plan in place at 100% of managed properties
Mitigation plan for direct risks identified by Measurabl Climate Risk Module
Mitigation plan for direct climate risks identified as elevated risk
Implement climate change scenarios as part of our acquisition investment due diligence process
When DOC identifies properties with opportunities for improvement, we optimize existing systems and allocate capital resources for upgrades. Additionally, we continuously engage property managers in the process of evaluating no- or low-cost efficiency opportunities through an annual sustainability self-assessment, empowering our team to help achieve our ESG goals.
The environmental performance of all DOC assets is tracked in software systems such as ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager, ENGIE, and Measurabl. These systems monitor energy, water, and waste data to help us prioritize our capital efforts.
In 2020, DOC invested in 29 sustainability-driven capital expenditure projects totaling $4.2 million, generating operating expense savings of approximately $7.7 million over the next ten years. Asset-level efficiency projects are identified based on a variety of factors, including committed capital, size, and location of the asset. In 2021, DOC has dedicated $4.0 million to sustainability projects to further our efforts as leaders in ESG performance within the REIT industry.
To maximize the usage of sustainable materials during tenant buildouts and common area projects, DOC worked with national architecture and interior design partners to develop a standard finish program including paint, flooring, lighting fixtures, and window treatments. All materials meet high-performance benchmarks for sustainability. In addition to these benefits, these standard finishes include access to negotiated national pricing discounts.
At a property level, our partners are a vital part of our ESG success. DOC recognizes their contributions through annual and quarterly sustainability awards. These awards recognize management personnel, service technicians, building engineers, and vendors based on their outstanding work in sustainability that aligns with and furthers our ESG goals.
DOC is a proud recipient of the 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy. Partners must perform at a superior level of energy management, demonstrate best practices across the organization, prove organization-wide energy savings, and communicate the benefits of ENERGY STAR. ENERGY STAR Award Winners lead their industries in the adoption of energy-efficient products, services, and strategies. These efforts are essential to fighting the climate crisis and protecting public health.
As an ENERGY STAR partner since 2014, DOC has made an ongoing and long-term commitment to incorporate better environmental impact principles into our business thoughtfully and responsibly. DOC has also made great strides in working with our health care partners to pursue low- or no-cost economic efficiencies across our portfolio. We also leverage an expanding array of building data – including utilizing ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager – to prioritize capital improvement projects with the most significant environmental and financial impact. ENERGY STAR award winners are selected from a network of thousands of ENERGY STAR partners.
The Institute for Real Estate Management® (IREM) Certified Sustainable Property (CSP) is a sustainability certification program that focuses on the role of exceptional real estate management through green building performance. IREM’s sustainability certification provides properties with recognition for resource efficiency and environmental initiatives. To earn this certification, each property must meet baseline requirements and then earn necessary points across energy, water, health, recycling, and purchasing categories.
DOC earned ten additional IREM® CSP certifications in 2020 and plans to complete ten new certifications by the end of 2021. We have also adopted IREM® CSP sustainability standards at all of our managed properties.
Clearview Cancer Institute | Huntsville, AL
Palm Valley MOB | Goodyear, AZ
Northside Center Pointe | Atlanta, GA
Valley West Hospital MOB | Sandwich, IL
UofL Health - Plaza II | Louisville, KY
Minnetonka MOB | Minnetonka, MN
St. Alexius Tech & Ed | Bismarck, ND
Orthopedic One - Columbus | Columbus, OH
Physicians Medical Center | Tacoma, WA
Corporate Headquarters | Milwaukee, WI
Green leases, also known as “high-performance” or “energy-aligned” leases, create win-win strategies for building owners and tenants by equitably aligning the costs and benefits of energy and water efficiency investments for both parties. Where conventional leases tend to make energy efficiency the sole responsibility of the landlord, under a green lease, tenants and property owners coordinate to conserve resources and align the costs of sustainable investments.
In 2020, DOC earned the Green Lease Leaders Gold Designation from the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Buildings Alliance. Green Lease Leaders is the premier industry recognition program that spotlights forward-thinking real estate companies who utilize the leasing process to spur collaborative action on energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings.
To receive Green Lease Leaders’ recognition, organizations must meet prerequisites and demonstrate best practices. Criteria include utility data tracking and sharing, cost recovery for efficiency-related capital improvements, sustainability training, and energy efficiency fit-out requirements for tenant spaces.
Learn more about Green Leasing at DOCPhysicians Realty Trust proudly owns two LEED-certified properties. Our acquisitions team has begun strategically prioritizing the purchase of LEED assets when possible.
3410 Worth Street, Dallas, TX
458,400 RSF | Acquired 2017
LEED Gold Certification
8 City Boulevard, Nashville, TN
108,850 RSF | Acquired 2015
LEED Gold Certification
