Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") Approach We strive to operate in a responsible, transparent and sustainable manner. Our leadership, through the cross-functional ESG Steering Committee and the Board of Directors (the "Board"), through the Nominating Corporate/Governance Committee, oversees and advances our ESG initiatives. We recognize that focusing on ESG engagement, integration and impact benefits our stakeholders and is fundamental to our business. Our corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy is focused on adopting leading ESG practices across our business and we were recognized for our leadership in this space over the past year in the following ways:
- Achieved a MSCI ESG rating of AA;
- Recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for the fifth consecutive year and maintained the level of Sustained Excellence, the EPA’s highest recognition within the ENERGY STAR program, for the third consecutive year;
- Achieved the level of Executive Member in the EPA’s Certification Nation program;
- Maintained top 30% (3rd decile) ISS Quality Score ranking for each of Environment and Social;
- Listed in the FTSE4Good Index since 2012;
- Named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the fifth consecutive year;
- Maintained Prime status under the ISS-ESG Corporate Rating for the fifth consecutive year;
- Improved GRESB score and maintained GRESB Green Star status for the third consecutive year;
- Received the Labrador 2023 Transparency Award Top 3 in Real Estate for the second consecutive year;
- Recognized for industry-leading governance practices, including #1 ranking from Green Street Advisors for Corporate Governance amongst all US REITs; and
- Honored by the Women’s Forum of New York for the ratio of women on our Board being above the national average.
Environmental We are committed to operating in a sustainable manner that helps to reduce the Company’s environmental impact. Our goal is prudent environmental stewardship with a focus on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, water usage, and waste production; mitigating climate change risks; and implementing energy efficiency, water efficiency, and renewable energy technologies across our portfolio. We work with our stakeholders, including employees, vendors, operators, residents, and tenants, in an effort to meet these objectives by encouraging and following evolving practices of environmental sustainability, including benchmarking our portfolio in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, obtaining green building certifications, implementing green technologies, and performing portfolio-wide physical and transition risk analysis to identify opportunities to help mitigate these risks.
In December 2019, we issued our inaugural green bond of $500,000,000 of 2.700% senior unsecured notes due 2027 and in March 2022 we issued an additional green bond of $550,000,000 of 3.85% senior unsecured notes due 2032. The net proceeds from the offerings have been used to fund energy efficiency, water conservation and green building projects. As of September 30, 2023, we have utilized all of the proceeds from these issuances on such projects.
Social We value and are committed to our employees. We believe that a diverse workplace produces a variety of perspectives, motivates employees and helps us understand and better serve our stakeholders, and the communities in which we do business. As of December 31, 2023, our U.S. employees self-identified as follows:
Ethnicity
Male
Female
Asian
%
%
Black or African American
%
%
Hispanic or Latino
%
%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
—
%
—
%
Two or More Races
%
%
White
%
%
%
%
Gender
%
%
Male
Male
We have reinforced our already strong commitment to diversity and inclusion through our Diversity Council and support of our seven employee network groups ("ENGs"). Our ENGs include women, families, racial and ethnic minorities, military, young professionals, and those who identify as LGBTQI+ and their allies. Our ENGs provide support, education, networking opportunities and community belonging for our employees. Our support of diversity and inclusion through our Diversity Council and ENGs, taken together with other employee initiatives, such as tailored messaging, training and discussions on equality and belonging, support our efforts to compete for and foster talent and inclusiveness in an ever-changing workforce.
In addition, we have several social initiatives in place that are focused on fostering a more diverse workforce, engaging with our communities and promoting the health and well-being of our employees, tenants and residents. The Welltower Charitable Foundation (the "Foundation") financially supports charitable initiatives related to aging, health care, the environment, education and the arts. We encourage our employees to give back to the community by matching their contributions and donating their time to eligible charitable organizations. Funds are also allocated to each of our ENGs to make charitable contributions in support of their programming efforts. Additionally, the Foundation facilitates presentations for charities to compete in the Give-WELL campaign. This campaign enables our employees to present and vote for charities that will receive donations from the Foundation. During 2023, we sponsored our fourth annual Day of Giving so our employees could collaborate to make an impact with local charitable organizations through volunteer opportunities. See the Human Capital section below for additional information regarding employee initiatives and programs.
Governance Our commitment to diversity starts at the top with a highly knowledgeable, skilled and diverse Board. As of December 31, 2023, our ten Directors self-identified as follows:
Board Composition
Ethnicity
Gender
Asian
%
Male
%
Black or African American
%
Female
%
Hispanic or Latino
%
%
White
%
%
Nine of our ten Directors are independent, and the independent Chair of our Board is held by a Black/African American male. Four of five, or 80%, of our Board committees are chaired by either a Female (2), Hispanic/Latino (1) or Black/African American (1) Director.
Additional information regarding our ESG programs and initiatives is available in our 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report (located on our website at www.welltower.com). Information on our website, including our Environmental, Social and Governance Report or sections thereof, is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.