SATO retains three stars in an international sustainability assessment

SATO, one of Finland’s largest rental housing providers, has been awarded three stars and the Green Star label in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) for its sustainability efforts. SATO performed particularly well in the social responsibility category.

In the 2024 GRESB assessment for Standing Investments, SATO maintained its previous score of 76 points, receiving three out of five stars. In the Development category, SATO improved its score from 79 to 83 points, earning two out of five stars. Additionally, the company received the Green Star label in both sections, as it surpassed the 50% threshold of available points. SATO's results were on par with the average of Northern European residential real estate investors.

SATO’s strengths were in areas such as sustainability management, risk management, diverse stakeholder engagement, a comprehensive health and wellness programme for employees, and initiatives related to tenant health and safety.

The company's lowest scores were in building environmental certifications, as SATO does not actively pursue certifications for its developments and residential buildings. Furthermore, as in the previous year, documentation related to the selection and monitoring of materials requires further refinement.

This marks the tenth year SATO has participated in the GRESB. "Stricter regulations are raising the bar for sustainability, and meeting these standards requires continuous development. The GRESB assessment provides us with valuable data that allows us to compare our efforts against other companies," says Jenni Rantanen, Sustainability Manager at SATO.

The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark measures and evaluates sustainability in the real estate sector, covering various areas of responsibility. GRESB offers a unified and comparable reporting model, serving as a comprehensive tool for companies to manage and improve the sustainability of their property portfolios. It assesses areas such as sustainability management, policies and reporting, risk management, environmental performance of property portfolios, and stakeholder engagement. This study has been conducted internationally since 2009, with the results from various companies forming a comparative matrix.

SATO owns approximately 25,000 rental homes in Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku. The company enables responsible urban living with excellent public transport connections and encourages residents to make sustainable choices in their daily lives. SATO builds homes designed to last for generations and maintains them according to lifecycle principles.

SATO aims to achieve carbon neutrality for in-use energy consumption by the end of 2030.

For more information about SATO’s sustainability, please contact:

Markku Honkasalo, CFO
p. +358 20 134 4226, firstname.lastname@sato.fi
Jenni Rantanen, Sustainability Manager
p. +358 20 134 4270, firstname.lastname@sato.fi