Spring is in the air and it felt like the right time to look back and review what we’ve been working on over the past year in terms of biodiversity - something we’ve discussed in detail before on this blog and an important part of our sustainability strategy here at Sirius.

Moreover, biodiversity is an increasing focus of attention for governments and corporates around the world, as we saw at last year’s COP26 climate conference where 45 governments and 95 multinational companies committed to investing in nature protection and more sustainable land use practices.

 In the past year we’ve made great strides at Sirius to integrate biodiversity into our sustainability work, which is something I’m very proud of.

A recap on our approach

Before we dive into the numbers, a quick overview of our biodiversity strategy.

As owners and managers of properties upon which we have large areas of green spaces, hedgerows and trees, we recognise that we have an important role to play in fostering biodiversity through active initiatives.

We take a three-pronged approach, focussing on the trees, bees and flowers that proliferate on our sites, so that these sites can positively contribute to the local environments and habitats where they are located.

We also think beyond our sites, and have created a Sirius corporate forest in partnership with global reforestation initiative Tree Nation, and Sirius beehives in partnership with Hektar Nektar, a beekeeping initiative across Germany, Switzerland and Austria that aims to increase the bee population by 10% over the next decade

Progress in the past year

Firstly, let’s take a look at the work we’ve done to foster trees over the past year.

In April 2021 we entered into partnership with Tree Nation, creating the Sirius corporate forest. In the year since, this project has seen 10,458 trees planted and 1,129.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide offset – across reforestation projects covering the Amazon, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, Nepal and Spain.

Our corporate forest is always expanding as we plant a tree to mark a wide range of occasions here at Sirius, from employee anniversaries and birthdays to the onboarding of new tenants and more. You can stay up to date with the progress of our forest at Tree Nation.

Closer to home, across our portfolio in Germany we have around 9,000 trees, which we steward and protect in order to enhance local biodiversity.

We’ve also made progress in helping ensure our other green spaces are biodiverse habitats.

We have designated a total area of around 30,000 sqm as nature and wildflower meadows on our properties, with much of the planting necessary to effect this transformation either complete or being planned.  The seed mixture used for the flower meadows has been specially developed for use in the areas where our sites are located, which provides the best food and habitats for local fauna. 

Appropriate signage is in place for natural areas and wildflower meadows so that visitors can identify them and treat them carefully. 

In addition to these green spaces, we’ve installed shelters for wildlife on around 30 of our properties, in the form of bee and insect hotels.

Finally, our partnership with Hektar Nektar has blossomed over the past year. As of April 2021 we had around 500,000 Sirius-sponsored bees working in their hives, taken care of by beekeepers across Germany – a number which has since doubled to around 1 million as of April 2022. This helps contribute to Hektar Nektar’s Project 2028 which seeks to increase the overall bee population by 10%.

Looking forward

It’s been a year of strong progress on biodiversity, but we recognise that there’s always more to be done, so we’re looking forward to sharing more updates on our progress and initiatives in the coming months.