Sustainability

The Board of Directors of the Managers ("the Board") is pleased to present ACRO-HT's (formerly ARA H-Trust)'s sustainability Report for the financial year ended 31 December 2023 ("FY2023"). This report summarises ACRO-HT's environmental, social and governance ("ESG") performance in FY2023 and details its progress to strengthen the implementation of material ESG topics across its real estate portfolio.

The Board recognises the significant resource requirements of hotels and therefore emphasises the importance of incorporating sustainability practices into the management of ACRO-HT's assets. This allows ACRO-HT to contribute to the social and environmental well-being of stakeholders while delivering sustainable and stable returns over the long term.

In pursuit of this objective, the Board is responsible for approving ACRO-HT's material topics, supervising the management of the material areas, ensuring compliance with the relevant regulations and reviewing and approving the sustainability report. The Board also oversees the development and implementation of robust risk management policies and procedures to address potential strategic, financial, operational, compliance, climate-related and environmental risks, thereby safeguarding the company's assets.

To access the full sustainability report, please click here.

On an annual basis, the Managers review the identified material topics with inputs from their stakeholders to confirm their relevance. In FY2023, the eight material topics were evaluated to still be material in the operating context of ACRO-HT and were approved by the Board.

The identified material factors have also been mapped to relevant GRI Topic Disclosures and UN SDGs that ACRO-HT believes are the most impactful from its operations.

Aside from the eight identified material topics, this report has included information on four other topics of interest to showcase the company's efforts in managing and advancing these areas. These four topics are Supply Chain Management, Water, Waste and Climate Change Resilience.

ACRO-HT is committed to maintaining strict standards across all properties and strive towards certifications like Energy Star to motivate the continued sustainable management of resources.

As the portfolio hotels are based in the U.S, the Managers look towards certifying the properties to Energy Star, a national energy efficiency programme by the U.S Environment Protection Agency. Certification for buildings is renewed and verified on an annual basis. In FY2023, ACRO-HT renewed 19 Energy Star certifications and attained 3 new certifications. Compared to FY2022, some of the previously certified hotels did not meet the analytical conditions for them to be eligible for the certification. Moving forward, the Managers are looking to maintain the certification status and increase the number of certified properties across the portfolio.

The following are the Energy Star Certified Properties in ACRO-HT's Portfolio in 2023: