Mid-America Apartment Communities Issues First Sustainability Report

In November, Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) issued its first annual sustainability report, at Clean Yield’s encouragement.

Faithful followers of Clean Yield’s advocacy program may remember that we filed a shareholder proposal at MAA in 2018 asking the company to issue a sustainability report. After some discussion, the company agreed to issue a report by year-end 2020. At the time, year-end 2020 felt like an ice-age away, but we felt that it was more important that the company do it well than do it fast. We checked in a few times along the way. At each check in, we noted that the company seemed to be making progress and was open to our questions and suggestions. They were also generous with their time and in helping us to understand the complexities of what they were trying to do. Despite this steady stream of engagement and indication of progress, our expectations were not high. First time sustainability reports tend to be heavy on glossy images and light on meaningful content. We knew this one would include a greenhouse gas emissions inventory (because it had been agreed to), but did not expect much more.

To our surprise, it included so much more! The company went beyond disclosing greenhouse gas emissions and also reported on environmental reduction goals and workforce diversity metrics. To be sure, there is still room for improvement. In particular, we would love to see more aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals (ideally a goal and pathway to net zero) and  a discussion of the challenges the company has faced in collecting key data, but we consider this to be a strong first report. Clean Yield is pleased to congratulate Mid-America on its first annual sustainability report!