Photography by Yeshi Kangrang courtesy of Unsplash
Introduction

Our company

Avison Young (Canada) Inc. is a global real estate firm that is owned by its operating Principals. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, we have 5,000 employees and operations in 17 countries.

Avison Young offers a comprehensive suite of commercial real estate services for owners and occupiers, including transaction, management, financial and professional advisory services.

We add value right through the property lifecycle for investors, occupiers and the public sector from acquisitions to disposals, in a wide variety of sectors including offices, retail, industrial and alternative sectors.

Our technology platform AVANT makes cities (and real estate) more transparent, accessible and understandable, allowing our clients to make informed, efficient and strategic decisions to realize the full potential of their real estate.

In our reporting, we include the operational boundaries relating to wholly owned Avison Young offices. Affiliate offices represent a small proportion of our operations – they are treated separately for the purpose of this report and will be incorporated into our reporting over time.

This report is disclosed on an annual basis, with mandatory and performance data pertaining to the calendar year 2022. Periodically we plan to update content related to projects and initiatives as a point of reference to reflect the latest status and outcomes.

We’re working to bring our ESG reporting into closer alignment with our financial reporting (calendar year). We are also working towards and expect to adopt the inaugural International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards. While we recognize that we don’t meet all the criteria for each standard yet, our global ESG strategy (launched in 2022) sets out our commitment to aligning and maturing our reporting practices and increasing our disclosures in the years ahead.


5,000

Real estate professionals across the globe

100+

Offices around the world

17

Operations in 17 countries globally


Materiality

To understand our stakeholder priorities we worked with consultants to develop our global ESG strategy. In 2021 we undertook a materiality assessment following the guidelines laid out by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Following this in-depth materiality study, we identified priority areas within the ESG landscape that are the most important to our stakeholders and will have the biggest impact on our business. This formed the basis of our global ESG strategy.

The top priorities identified in the study were:

  • Talent attraction, employee engagement and retention
  • Diversity, equality and inclusion
  • Health, safety and wellbeing
  • Climate resilience and adaptation
  • Green buildings and performance
  • GHG emissions

Governance

Decisions taken relating to the management of impact in our organization are governed by the Board of Directors and a global executive committee, comprised of several executive leaders representing functions, service lines and country leadership across our global operations.

The ESG Subcommittee, which adheres to our committee charter, is responsible for implementing the process for identifying, evaluating and reviewing our material topics relevant to our organization and selected stakeholders. Avison Young will undertake materiality reviews periodically in the future to ensure our strategy evolves in line with changing stakeholder priorities and opportunities for maximum impact to, and arising from, our business and the value we create.

Our senior management are incentivized through the setting of goals and objectives and performance reviews. Performance-linked remuneration applies to the highest governance body within our organization.

This article is part of our 2022 Impact Report

Download the full report