Overview
Empire State Realty Trust believes that sound corporate governance is at the heart of any successful company, and integration of effective governance initiatives strengthens both our company and our sustainability program.
Board and Management Oversight
As sustainability is a critical part of our business strategy, our entire Board has responsibility for sustainability oversight. Recognizing the significance, attention and focus that sustainability strategy requires, our Board has delegated specific sustainability responsibilities to each of its committees as specified in the committee charters.
Our comprehensive, all-department approach to Sustainability is supported by the employee-led Sustainability Committee, led by our SVP, Director of Energy and Sustainability, and executed by the property management teams across our portfolio. The Sustainability Committee meets quarterly, and the standing members include our Chairman and CEO, President, CFO, operations executives and members of the legal, marketing and investor relations teams. The committee’s agenda has evolved over time to reflect our company’s proactive leadership and commitment to results.
Risk Management
A key part of ESRT‘s business and Sustainability decision-making is to maintain an effective risk oversight process to enable the Board to monitor, evaluate and take action with respect to the company’s most important short-term, medium-term and long-term business risks. Our senior management team is responsible for the day-to-day management of enterprise risks and manages the company’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program. As part of the ERM program and committee oversight responsibilities under the committee charters, management provides regular updates to the Board and relevant committees.
Disclosure Frameworks & Industry Alignment
Transparency is a key component of ESRT’s governance and accountability procedures, as it informs our stakeholders of our actions and their results. We utilize internationally recognized disclosure frameworks – which include GRESB, GRI, TCFD, UN Global Compact, and SASB – as a part of our strategy to ensure full transparency and accurate reporting.
Business Conduct & Ethics
Our Board has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which applies to our directors, officers, and employees and is reviewed and overseen by our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. We train our employees on the Code and provide additional compliance training annually.
