Federal Realty Investment Trust – Lobbying Governance & Transparency

Sign up to access all our data and the evidence and analysis underlying our overall scores. Once you've created an account, we'll get in touch with further details:

Lobbying Governance

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Moderate	Federal Realty discloses a structured, senior-level process to keep its policy engagement consistent with its climate commitments, noting that "Since ESG is so well integrated into our business, we have multiple checks and balances to ensure our activities align with overall strategy" and that oversight extends from the "Board level" down to project procedures. The company identifies clear responsibility for this oversight, explaining that "Our VP of Sustainability works directly with our EVP General Counsel to set and implement our ESG Strategy" and that these executives "regularly update and engage with other members of the C-Suite including the CEO, COO, and CFO," while "the Sustainability team regularly engages with the Board of Trustees … since the Nominating Committee is responsible for ESG and climate related issues oversight." It further describes an "ESG Council comprised of leaders of the primary business functions … [which] meet at least quarterly to discuss our climate transition plan," indicating recurring monitoring of external engagement. In addition, the company has made "a public commitment … to conduct your engagement activities in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement," signalling an intention to align advocacy with its climate goals. However, the disclosure does not detail how direct lobbying positions are reviewed, provides no description of assessing or managing the stances of trade associations, and offers no publicly available lobbying-alignment audit, so the extent to which these oversight bodies actively test and correct lobbying activities remains unclear. View Sources	C

Overall Assessment

Analysis

Score

Moderate

Federal Realty discloses a structured, senior-level process to keep its policy engagement consistent with its climate commitments, noting that "Since ESG is so well integrated into our business, we have multiple checks and balances to ensure our activities align with overall strategy" and that oversight extends from the "Board level" down to project procedures. The company identifies clear responsibility for this oversight, explaining that "Our VP of Sustainability works directly with our EVP General Counsel to set and implement our ESG Strategy" and that these executives "regularly update and engage with other members of the C-Suite including the CEO, COO, and CFO," while "the Sustainability team regularly engages with the Board of Trustees … since the Nominating Committee is responsible for ESG and climate related issues oversight." It further describes an "ESG Council comprised of leaders of the primary business functions … [which] meet at least quarterly to discuss our climate transition plan," indicating recurring monitoring of external engagement. In addition, the company has made "a public commitment … to conduct your engagement activities in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement," signalling an intention to align advocacy with its climate goals. However, the disclosure does not detail how direct lobbying positions are reviewed, provides no description of assessing or managing the stances of trade associations, and offers no publicly available lobbying-alignment audit, so the extent to which these oversight bodies actively test and correct lobbying activities remains unclear.

View Sources

Lobbying Transparency

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Limited	Federal Realty Investment Trust offers only limited visibility into its climate-related lobbying. It does identify two specific policy arenas—the "Maryland Building Performance Standards" and its involvement with the "Montgomery County Building Energy Performance Standard"—demonstrating some clarity on what it is engaging on. However, the description of how it seeks to influence these measures remains vague; the company mainly notes that it holds an "advisory position only" on various industry and government committees and that it "provided feedback on comment letters submitted by the trade organizations,” without naming the government agencies, legislators, or other decision-makers it targets. Similarly, it provides little insight into the objectives of its engagement: beyond stating "Directionally, we support the transition to a low carbon economy" and acknowledging unspecified concerns about how the legislation applies to its property type, the company does not spell out the amendments or policy changes it wants. As a result, while some relevant policies are named, the mechanisms and intended outcomes of the company’s lobbying are not described in sufficient detail to demonstrate strong transparency.	D