Anna Malhari, COO at Veris Residential, Inc. (NYSE: VRE), participated in a video interview during Nareit’s REITworld: 2023 Annual Conference held Nov. 14-16 in Los Angeles. Veris Residential was both Nareit’s 2023 Leader in the Light Award winner for the residential sector and Nareit’s 2023 DEI Recognition Bronze Award winner.
Malhari stressed the importance of leadership among REITs when it comes to moving the needle on ESG, noting that many of Veris’s peers are setting and reporting on ambitious and thoughtful sustainability goals.
“With climate change [and social issues] being so important, and the built environment being such a large piece of the puzzle, it’s really great to see a lot of the REITs stepping up and really providing leadership in terms of transparency, accountability, and oversight from a governance perspective,” she said.
Malhari said that ESG is embedded in everything that Veris Residential does and is the lens through which the REIT makes its business decisions.
“We really want to integrate ESG not only within the company, but within our communities, our buildings, and really take our residents and communities more broadly on to the journey with us,” she added.