Mark Delisi, vice president of corporate responsibility at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), participated in a video interview at Nareit's 2020 ESG JumpStart Workshop, a one-day program designed to teach Nareit corporate members the core skills needed to launch—or improve—an ESG program of any size.
Delisi discussed key milestones along AvalonBay’s ESG reporting journey, noting that “the important thing about reporting for us is that it’s a means not an end.”
Delisi also said that if he had known how important public ESG data would become for third party aggregators today, the company would have done even more a few years ago in terms of presenting that data. “We’re going to catch up on that but it’s a real lesson learned for me right now.”
Meanwhile, Delisi stressed AvalonBay’s increased focus on reducing emissions.
“We’re going to really look at how can we drive down our emissions footprint…and help these cities and states in which we do business, like California, meet these ambitious goals,” he said.