GRESB and WELL: Complementary Tools to Promote Transparency and Leadership on Health and Well-being
Health and well-being has emerged as an important issue for real estate companies and funds. Investors and tenants have expressed interest and there is increasing recognition that the promotion of health and well-being can contribute to competitive differentiation, value creation, and risk management. GRESB and its partners explored this with a series of events in […]
In a blog post earlier this year about ESG and Real Estate, GRESB CEO Nils Kok mentioned the “GRESB Six Stages of Grief.” I can imagine that a month and a half into the 2016 Assessment some of our property company and fund manager participants are deep in stage 2: Anger. Does this sound like you? […]
The Value of an Integrated Sustainability Strategy for Real Estate Companies and Funds
Last week was time for the 2016 installment of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Building Summit. As in prior years, the Summit was full of friends and leaders from across the real estate industry. I had the opportunity to participate in a session moderated by Dr. Jason Hartke (DOE), David deVos (Prudential Real […]
GRESB Green Bond Working Group, March 2016 The fourth meeting of the GRESB Green Bond Working Group addressed the constructs, protocols and benefits of a green bond roadshow. Speakers included Victoria Clarke from HSBC’s green bond investment banking group, Christophe Garot representing two-time green bond issuer Unibail-Rodamco and Viktor Stunnenberg who serves as Senior Portfolio […]
GRESB started back in 2009 with three founding institutional investors looking to assess the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of their real estate portfolios and their investment managers. The first assessment was performed in 2010, and saw nearly one hundred property companies and funds reporting on their ESG efforts and achievements. Fast forward to […]
Last week I spent a couple of days in sunny Vermont with our great IT partner Greenriver, who together with the GRESB Data Analytics team— have been working hard on building out the GRESB Portal for the 2016 data collection on real estate, debt and infrastructure. One of the exciting developments is that GRESB is […]
While investor interest in infrastructure was increasing, investors in other types of real assets were focusing on the importance of environmental, social, and governance(ESG) performance as a source of value and risk. The catch is that ESG considerations for infrastructure are different from assets like real estate. Infrastructure projects are typically big, long-lived and, critically, […]
Investors Seek Diversification and Stable Income from Infrastructure
Infrastructure is a relatively young asset class with a developing investor base. Increasing interest in this sector reflects wide-spread recognition for a large gap between infrastructure needs and investment, as well as the prospect for relatively stable income streams and diversification. Australian pension funds were among the first private investors in infrastructure followed by pension […]
Green Bonds: Costs and Benefits of Issuance and Investment
GRESB Green Bond Working Group, January 2016 The third meeting of the GRESB Green Bond Working Group (GBWG) addressed the costs and benefits of green bond issuance and investment. GRESB presented original research on the performance of corporate real estate green bonds, sharing its findings on the quantitative costs and benefits identified, to date. Speakers, […]
Green Bonds: Metrics—Identifying Eligible Green Projects and Reporting
The Green Bond Principles (GBPs) require clear environmentally sustainable benefits and where feasible, these should be quantified or assessed by issuers. The GRESB Green Bond Guidelines for the Real Estate Sector take this suggestion one step further by recommending use of: Rigorous green building certification systems (e.g. BREEAM, Green Star, LEED) and/or Energy ratings (e.g. […]
…is high returns at low risk (volatility). Sure, that’s the starting point and so-called fiduciary duty of pension funds, insurance companies, and the investment managers that invest their capital. But increasingly, investors also want the companies and funds that they invest in to show what these investments do when it comes to environmental, social and […]
What’s in a Target? Investors Expect Significant Carbon Reductions from Real Estate Sector
Last week, PGGM Investments, a EUR190 billion Dutch pension fund, announced that over the next 5 years, it is seeking a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from its investments in real estate – both listed property companies and private equity real estate funds. This is the world upside down: typically corporates make announcements for energy […]
Carbon Credentials – Data Management and Reporting
“Carbon Credentials works with a number of market leading real estate organisations in the UK including Hermes Real Estate, The Crown Estate, and Aviva Investors to drive value out of sustainability data. We believe that reporting to GRESB provides companies with a framework for continual improvement of sustainability performance. Working with our property sector clients […]
GRESB Infrastructure: Filling an ESG Data Gap for Infrastructure Investors
Hot on the heels of the release of the 2015 GRESB data for real estate on September 2, GRESB has more news to share. Today, in London, GRESB announces a new initiative to provide environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information for investors in and lenders to infrastructure assets and portfolios. This initiative is called GRESB […]
Tenant Engagement Success to benefit Data Management
Purpose of the project Waterfront Station is a Triple Net leased building with a government agency as the tenant. The owner, USAA Real Estate Company, and the property management company, Vornado, wanted to accurately benchmark the building’s energy use, but needed information from the tenant about the energy demand of the data center. The tenant, […]
[one-half-first] [/one-half-first] [one-half] Purpose of the project Sonae Sierra is constantly looking to improve the energy efficiency of its existing assets and has reduced electricity consumption across its portfolio by 40% since 2002 (its benchmark year). Nevertheless, in the pursuit of continuous improvement, the Company realised that there were irregularities in the energy consumption of […]
Purpose of the project British Land’s award-winning energy reduction programme generates cost savings for occupiers, protects asset value for investors and reduces carbon emissions. At 350 Euston Road at Regent’s Place, British Land and property management partner Broadgate Estates Ltd have reduced landlord energy use by 65% in six years. When the traditional boiler and […]
A Sneak Preview of the 2015 GRESB Results: Global Leadership and a Record-Breaking Response
GRESB has a simple but powerful mission: Create better built environments by enabling institutional investors with actionable information about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on their real estate investments. GRESB carries out this mission with a systematic process to assess, score, and benchmark property companies and funds around the world. GRESB members use this […]
