Climate risks

Where do we see the biggest climate risks? What has the biggest impact on our buildings and the surrounding area? Vesteda has developed a climate impact tool to answer these questions. The impact tool provides insight into what the climate impacts are in surrounding areas and the vulnerability of the buildings themselves. Now we have identified the risks, we have started making targeted investments to reduce those risks. By making these investments, we increase the value of the property and the quality of living for our tenants, while also preventing damage to their property in the future.

Inundation due to heavy rainfall, periods of extreme heat and subsidence due to drought: the problems caused by extreme weather are affecting more and more real estate and therefore also its owners, shareholders and tenants. All the more reason for Vesteda to understand the risks and to invest in effective improvements. Together with architecture and engineering consultancy SWECO, we developed the Climate Risk Identification and Management (in Dutch: KIM) tool. This tool assigns each property a climate score based on the surrounding area and the vulnerability of the building itself. Stephan de Bie, Sustainability Programme Manager: “It turned out that the building itself was the main factor in the climate impact, much more so than the local environment. Which is great, because this means that we can have an impact on this ourselves.”

In addition to identifying the risks, Vesteda also mapped out the action perspective for each building. We now have insight into the effectiveness, applicability and costs of each measure. For example, take placing solar protection film on the outside of windows. This is a solution that is easy to apply and is very effective at keeping out heat. In addition, we are trying to maximise the application of nature-based solutions. “For instance, to combat inundation we are more likely to work with height differences, such as with a wadi, rather than build barriers.” But ultimately every property and its vulnerability is different. So every solution is custom-made to each situation. The focus is mainly on heat and inundation, but we also look at the risk of flooding. “We don’t have any influence on the height of dykes, but we can focus on crisis management and offer our tenants an evacuation plan.”

In 2023 , Vesteda began work on addressing the risks we have identified, starting with the high-risk properties. The idea is to learn from each project and look at which adjustments prove the most effective. Knowledge and the increasing insight we gain from this in turn forms the basis for subsequent investments.