Climate Change Data

American Campus Communities

Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2022, 2023)

Reporting Period: 2022

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Governance

Environmental Achievements

  • Sourced renewable energy consumption at seven properties, bringing renewable consumption to 26.7 million kWh annually.
  • Completed 23 additional plumbing retrofit projects in 2022, bringing our total retrofits to 52 that save more than 256 million gallons of water annually.
  • Began replacing plastic bottles in our properties’ model fridges with refillable and recyclable aluminum bottles, with the goal of completing this project by 2023.
  • Continued to lead the student housing industry with 39 projects that are LEED-certified and another six that are tracking LEED certification.
  • Leveraged our UEM platform to analyze over 20,000 monthly utility bills for opportunities to reduce resource consumption and costs through conservation-saving measures.

Social Achievements

  • Maintained a diverse team that is 50% women and 54% people of color and developed a custom, companywide diversity and inclusion training program for launch in 2023.
  • Launched the Mental Health Wellness Advocacy Coalition with partners at Hi, How Are You Project and other student housing industry leaders and conducted and published the first Thriving College Student Index benchmark survey of U.S. college students’ mental health.
  • Launched a Facilities Inside Track program to help facilities employees grow and advance in their careers at ACC.

Governance Achievements

  • Revised our internal ESG organization to reflect our ongoing commitment to ESG under new ownership.
  • Developed a new risk mitigation program focused on data loss prevention, which we will support through company-wide training.
  • Aligned our compensation structure for all ACC employees to ESG roadmap goals.

Climate Goals & Targets

Short-term Goals:
  • Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15% over three years
  • Reduce water consumption by 10% over three years
  • Expand team members’ participation in YourCause by 20% in 2023

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • tracking and reporting small business owners in ACC’s supplier base

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB

Awards & Recognition

  • 2023 & 2022 Great Place to Work Certification™
  • 2023 & 2022 Newsweek’s list of Most Trustworthy Companies in America
  • 2023 GlobeSt. Best Place to Work Award
  • 2022 National Association of Home Builders Property Management Firm of the Year
  • 2022 Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Real Estate

Reporting Period: 2023

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:134,351 Metric Tons CO2e
Scope 1 Emissions:19,386 Metric Tons CO2e
Scope 2 Emissions:102,397 Metric Tons CO2e
Scope 3 Emissions:12,567 Metric Tons CO2e
Renewable Energy Share:9.33%
Total Energy Consumption:1,352,356 Gigajoules (GJ)
Water Consumption:6,404,184 m3
Waste Generated:2,116 lbs per unit

ESG Focus Areas

  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Governance

Environmental Achievements

  • Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from ACC’s owned portfolio by 9.8% from 2022 to 2023 (goal is a 15% reduction by 2025)
  • Reduced water consumption by 4.6% since 2022
  • Deployed $5.4 million in large-scale conservation measures since 2022 (with 38% average ROI)
  • 40 LEED-certified projects and another 11 tracking LEED certification
  • Launched a new green certification policy requiring all newly developed and acquired communities to meet Fitwel standards and pursue LEED, ENERGY STAR®, and/or Passive House certification.

Social Achievements

  • Partnered with the Hi, How Are You Project to scale the College Student Mental Wellness Advocacy Coalition to 26 student residential housing companies, publish the second-annual Thriving College Student Index Report and develop a national training program.
  • Maintained diverse leadership, with 47% of senior-level management positions held by women and 48% held by people of color.
  • Launched a partnership with CoreGiving to organize team member and resident volunteer events at local food banks nationwide.
  • Formally aligned compensation structure for all team members to ESG roadmap goals.

Governance Achievements

  • Consolidated all risk mitigation activities (including compliance and privacy) under the newly expanded legal department.
  • Added ESG performance goals to existing criteria for team members’ annual incentive compensation.
  • Created a comprehensive data tracking system.

Climate Goals & Targets

Short-term Goals:
  • Reduce GHG emissions by 15% by 2025 (using 2022 as baseline)
  • Reduce water consumption by 10% over three years

Environmental Challenges

  • Increasing solid waste intensity due to increased package deliveries and single-use plastics.
  • Climate change increasing the frequency of natural disasters impacting operations.
Mitigation Strategies
  • Streamlining procurement strategies to prioritize products with longer lifespans and less waste.
  • Transitioning to a largely paperless organization.
  • Conducting climate risk assessments on all existing and new properties to inform investment and planning decisions.
  • Implementing a detailed climate resilience plan.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Added sustainability criteria to procurement strategies (e.g., asking suppliers for environmental goals, prioritizing products with fewer materials and longer lifespans).

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Fires, floods, drought
Opportunities
  • Development of energy-efficient products

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB

Awards & Recognition

  • 2023 & 2022 Great Place to Work Certification™
  • 2024, 2023 & 2022 Newsweek’s list of Most Trustworthy Companies in America
  • 2023 GlobeSt. Best Place to Work Award
  • 2023 & 2022 Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Real Estate
  • 2023 Student Housing Business Innovator Awards (4 Awards)