How GID combines green leasing and GRESB data to manage risk and improve operational performance

GID is a privately-held, vertically-integrated real estate company that owns, operates, and/or manages a portfolio of multifamily and industrial assets, and develops multifamily and mixed-use projects across the United States. The firm also operates a credit platform that provides commercial real estate debt solutions for institutional borrowers.  

GID’s sustainability strategy is built around long-term ownership, operational collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. Key focus areas include: 

• Engagement with vertically integrated and third-party operators, tenants, and residents
• A holistic strategy where each initiative magnifies the overall sustainability impact
• Connecting policy with action to reduce risk and drive asset-level performance

GID’s sustainability strategy is rooted in a long-term investment philosophy. As a privately held real estate company with more than 65 years of history, the firm has long viewed sustainable performance as integral to building and operating assets with strong long-term operational fundamentals.

​​​​“​We started with the strapline, ‘A total commitment to better living,’ and we continue to stay connected to the communities in which we invest and operate,” ​​​said Philip Carmody, Senior Vice President, Head of Responsible Investments at GID​.

That long-term approach became more formalized in 2016, when GID established a dedicated sustainability department. The following year, the firm made its first GRESB submission for a multifamily closed-end vehicle. In 2026, GID reported on six entities through GRESB—three multifamily and three industrial entities, including the tenth consecutive submission for the same multifamily closed-end vehicle.²

GID has also been recognized as a Green Lease Leader since 2022 for its multifamily and industrial portfolios.³ Together, GRESB and Green Lease Leaders support a strong sustainability program that creates better assets, enhances collaboration, and reduces risk.

For GID, Green Lease Leaders and GRESB play complementary roles. Green lease language helps enable the operational changes, tenant engagement, and data access needed to improve asset-level performance. GRESB provides the framework and infrastructure to organize that information, benchmark performance, measure the outcomes, and communicate results to investors.

“It’s a map—from data collection and coordinating with tenants through leases to making decisions with our asset management team. It’s all connected,” said Jeffrey Palmer, Vice President of Responsible Investments at GID.

Driving change through lease requirements is a necessary part of GID’s sustainability work, but their leasing approach varies by property type. As a vertically-integrated multifamily platform, GID uses Green Lease Leaders recognition as a way to engage and educate their local property management teams, who are responsible for implementing the clauses in the lease and supporting day-to-day engagement with residents.

For industrial properties, the process is different, because tenants often control utilities and in-space equipment under triple-net lease structures. Green lease language then becomes an important tool for establishing data sharing, setting efficiency expectations, and collaborating on property maintenance and improvements.

GRESB provides a standardized framework for collecting and organizing building performance data, guiding strategy, and helping GID convey the value of building performance to key stakeholders. It also gives GID a common language for benchmarking its performance against peers and communicating progress to investors.

For GID, certain sustainability initiatives generate measurable operational efficiencies that contribute to asset-level financial metrics.

“Every dollar saved in utility expense is a dollar added to NOI,” said Carmody.

By improving access to building performance data and strengthening coordination with tenants and on-site teams, GID is better positioned to identify efficiency opportunities, support capital planning, and seek to improve operational efficiency and building performance over time.

In markets with building performance standards, data coverage and tenant coordination also help GID build compliance pathways, reduce risk, and minimize the potential for fines.

GRESB provides an additional framework to help GID communicate performance in a format that investors understand. As Carmody noted, GRESB remains the primary standard for real estate sustainability benchmarking across the globe, providing a common framework for communicating building performance data to investors.

​​“​We’re on a long-term journey and there’s no single fix, but data is key. ​Having data flow through building performance standards, through Green Lease Leaders, having it measured in a consistent format and benchmarked through GRESB, and then being able to communicate that effectively in a common language to our investment partners—collectively helps us continue to take action and improve our operational and environmental performance.”

​“Green Lease Leaders enables the action, GRESB helps us measure our operational outcomes and communicate them to our investment partners,” Carmody concluded. ​ ​

Footnotes

¹Assets Under Management (“AUM”) is as of June 30, 2026 and is calculated in compliance with the definition for AUM prescribed in INREV’s Global Definitions Database and includes the market value of real estate as well as non-real estate assets (including any cash in the vehicle or mandate) and committed but uncalled capital for which GID provides oversight and investment management services (for internal client capital and third-party capital) in the funds as well as “Other GID Accounts,” (as defined below) and accounts for which GID provides asset management services without an equity investment. Other GID Accounts include proprietary accounts and co-investment joint ventures with unaffiliated investors where the latter maintain significant approval rights over the management of these investments. Such investment vehicles are not considered “securities portfolios” or “private funds” for purposes of the Advisers Act and are not included in the regulatory assets under management reported in Form ADV Part 1A or Part 2A. As of December 31, 2025, the firm’s regulatory assets under management totaled $5.9B.

² GID pays a fee to submit individual investment vehicles to GRESB. Details on the real estate assessment and scoring can be found here: https://www.gresb.com/nl-en/real-estate-assessment/

³ GID pays a fee to Green Lease Leaders, which is administered by the Institute for Market Transformation. Green Lease Leaders award was achieved for GID Multifamily in 2025 and GID Industrial in 2024, and each award is valid for a 3-year period. https://www.greenleaseleaders.com/