INVESTOR RELATIONS

ESG

Environmental, Social, and Governance

Our commitment to sound governance, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility within our teams and communities is at the heart of our corporate mission, business strategy, and ESG focus areas.

“At Ladder, we look beyond the hallways we pass through every day, and we strive to succeed, not just financially, but also in being positive corporate citizens.” – Brian Harris, CEO

Our ESG Strategy and 2022 Highlights -

Ladder Capital Corp (Ladder or the Company) believes that the proactive development and oversight of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors that matter most to our business can help promote long-term value creation for our shareholders, employees, clients, communities, and other stakeholders.

Strategy Highlights

We evaluate our business operations and investment portfolio on an ongoing basis, guided by our commitment to execute the strategic ESG focus areas we consider accretive to our long-term business success. In 2022, we continued our progress in each area, as noted below:

Our ESG Strategy 2022 Highlights
Our Governance Principles
  • Accountability
  • Integrity
  • Risk Management
Governance Principles icon
  • Our Executive Team and Board are fully aligned with shareholder interests, collectively owning over $139 million in LADR stock (over 10% of the market capitalization)
  • 100% of our employees completed ESG, legal and compliance, anti-discrimination, and cybersecurity training requirements
  • Continued robust shareholder engagement, encouraging ongoing, meaningful dialogue about the issues our shareholders find most important
  • In November 2022, Ladder Capital Corp received an ESG Risk Rating of 17.2 from Morningstar Sustainalytics, assessed to be at low risk of experiencing material financial impacts from ESG factors.1 In no event shall such rating be construed as investment advice or expert opinion as defined by the applicable legislation.
  • Strong performance across our loan and real estate investments, illustrating our credit risk management
  • Proven track record with < 0.1% in losses across all investments originated since inception
  • Extended, upsized and reduced the cost of our unsecured revolving credit facility, with all nine syndicate banks participating
  • In May 2022, S&P put us on positive outlook following our upgrade in 2021
  • Hired Chief Technology Officer to further strengthen our information technology risk mitigation and best practices cybersecurity program
Our People
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Talent Recruitment, Development, and Advancement
  • Collaborative Culture
  • Competitive Compensation and Benefits
  • Employee Health and Safety
Our People icon
  • 40% of our Executive Team is comprised of women, more than 20% of employees identify as female, and 56% of those are currently at Director+ level, including our President who also serves on our Board
  • 30% of all employees have been at Ladder over 10 years and 44% have been at Ladder for over seven years
  • Promoted 24% of our employees in 2022
  • Held leadership development sessions for all of our Managing Directors and executives with a leading management consultant
  • Maintained a robust summer internship program
  • Hosted company-wide town halls and sponsored employee events to promote culture of collaboration
  • Our January 2023 employee survey had a 94% participation rate; 100% of respondents were enthusiastic about working at Ladder
  • Continued to provide our employees with remote and hybrid work opportunities
  • Our new NYC headquarters includes a dedicated employee fitness center, multiple collaborative areas and two all-gender restrooms
  • Reimbursed employees for up to 90% of medical premiums and fully covered dental, vision and other premiums
  • Employee team participated in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, the world’s largest corporate running event, that seeks to serve as a catalyst between work and wellness
Our Communities
  • Community Engagement
  • Community Development
  • Access and Affordability
  • Property Improvements
Our Communities icon
  • Committed to community engagement, including – DREAM Charter School back-to-school preparation and God's Love We Deliver meal events
  • Provide mortgage loans to fit the needs of smaller enterprises and local property owners with an average loan size of $25 million
  • Have 74 multifamily, manufactured housing, and mobile home (collectively, “multifamily”) investments. Using HUD's income categories, by loan count, 62% of these investments include affordable housing for low-income families, with 22% for very low-income families
Our Planet
  • Our Impact on Climate Change
  • Environmental Investment Risk Management
  • Resiliency
  • Responsible Consumption
Our Planet icon
  • Estimated our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions and are currently evaluating our approach to assessing Scope 3 emissions in light of stakeholder expectations and regulatory requirements
  • Environmental risk assessment completed for all new loans and real estate investments, reviewed by specialized environmental counsel
  • Updated our Phase I Environmental Site Assessment scope of work to include Emerging Contaminants of Concern (e.g., Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)) to comply with latest ASTM and EPA requirements
  • Our geographic diversity helped limit the impact of 2022 named storms and natural disasters on our real estate and loan collateral properties
  • Added responsible consumption checklist to every new deal that assesses energy and water usage upgrades as well as certifications for environmental performance or energy ratings
  • Our new headquarters is built to NYC’s strict green codes in an LEED Silver building
  • 93% of respondents indicated they commute via public or alternative transportation (walking or biking) per our January 2023 employee survey

1 Copyright ©2023 Sustainalytics. All rights reserved. This publication contains information developed by Sustainalytics (www.sustainalytics.com). Such information and data are proprietary of Sustainalytics and/or its third-party suppliers (Third Party Data) and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not constitute an endorsement of any product or project, nor an investment advice and are not warranted to be complete, timely, accurate or suitable for a particular purpose. Their use is subject to conditions available at https://www.sustainalytics.com/legal-disclaimers.

ESG Oversight

While the full Board of Directors (Board) has ultimate responsibility for ESG matters that impact our business, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (NCG Committee) exercises primary Board oversight of ESG risk management, strategy, initiatives, and policies, in accordance with its charter. Our ESG Committee of cross-functional leaders, including our Head of ESG, drives our ESG strategy development and implementation. Our Head of ESG is our Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel (CAO), who also has primary responsibility for Ladder’s corporate governance, capital markets activities, public relations, legal and compliance work, human resources (HR), cybersecurity and risk management. The Head of ESG provides periodic updates to the Board, NCG Committee, and Executive Team to keep them informed of, and to collaborate on, initiatives and progress within our ESG focus areas.

ESG oversight
About This Disclosure

Our ESG Committee developed, and the NCG Committee approved, our corporate ESG strategy. The core focus areas of our ESG strategy are informed by, and selected to align our disclosures with, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) framework, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). For more information, please see Frameworks and Standards below.

Our Governance Principles +

Our People +

Our Communities +

Our Planet +

Frameworks and Standards +

Key Disclosures +