Hines has appointed Daniel Chang as its head of ESG for Europe, and Julie Villet will become head of ESG and innovation at Mileway.
Chang, who was previously managing director of portfolio management at the international real estate giant, will work under Hines’ global ESG head Peter Epping, who was appointed in June.
Villet (pictured), meanwhile, who has spent the last 16 years with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, will lead Mileway’s ESG agenda across its portfolio, reporting directly to chief executive Emmanuel Van der Strichele.
The pan-European last-mile logistics company intends to upgrade its entire, 1,700 property estate.
Chang will be responsible for driving a comprehensive ESG agenda across the Hines Europe platform. He will coordinate carbon reduction standards and initiatives, such as the net zero strategy, define social programmes and ensure the adoption of transparent and accountable governance frameworks, such as GRESB and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Chang has been with Hines since 1999, starting as an assistant construction manager. Over the past few years he has helped the sustainability drive within the Hines European Core Fund, which was rated as having the highest standards of sustainability within its peer group by GRESB.
Chang said that “the urgency and need for action has become increasingly clear”.
“The real estate sector has a pivotal role to play in mitigating the impact of climate change and creating healthy and resilient communities,” he added. “As such, at Hines we view ESG as an integral part of our approach to delivering future-proofed buildings that are also capable of delivering financial performance.”
Hines said that it was keen to go even further with its ESG projects, indicating that more developments like the 40,000 sq ft all-wood office at T3 Diagonal Mar in Barcelona, would be added to the pipeline.
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