Prologis appoints sustainability lead

The world’s largest industrial landlord has hired Susan Uthayakumar as chief sustainability and energy officer.

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In the newly created role, Uthayakumar will lead Prologis’ customer-focused sustainability and energy solutions business. Her team will evaluate and scale new and existing sustainability measures across the Prologis portfolio.

Uthayakumar will also partner with the company’s ESG team on strategy, progress, stakeholder engagement and related initiatives.

Prior to Prologis, Uthayakumar was president of global energy company Schneider Electric’s sustainability business division after a stint as CEO of Schneider Canada.

Gary E. Anderson, chief operating officer at Prologis, said: “Susan’s proven leadership and experience will be critical to our ongoing innovation and progress on our long-term sustainability goals – and those of our customers.”

Sustainability goals and progress

Among Prologis’ goals are commitments to achieve 100% carbon-neutral construction globally by 2025.

Emissions targets include reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (direct emissions and indirect emissions from electricity, steam, heating and cooling) by 21% between 2016 and 2025, while cutting Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions from value chain) by 15% in the same period.

Additionally, the company aims to install 400 MW of solar capacity on its buildings by 2025.

In its 2020 sustainability report, Prologis reported a 37% reduction in Scope 3 emissions, but a 40% increase in Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Prologis said that Scope 1 and 2 represent just 0.1% of its emissions, which means the cut to Scope 3 far outweighs any increase. The sheer size of Scope 3 emissions – arising from a portfolio of 994m sq ft of warehouses globally – has made cutting customer emissions a priority for the company.

Uthayakumar said: “Customers today are looking for a partner who can help them achieve their sustainability goals in innovative new ways while running their businesses as effectively as possible. That will be my focus at Prologis.”