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Name: Jorge Chapa
Title: Chief Impact Officer
Organization: Green Building Council of Australia
Topics of interest:
- Climate action
- Nature and circularity
- Health and wellbeing
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What motivated you to join the GRESB Foundation Board?
GRESB plays a critical role in shaping how ESG performance is measured and understood across buildings and infrastructure, and I’ve long admired its commitment to transparency, collaboration, and investor relevance. As someone who has worked extensively on ESG frameworks—from leading the governance of Green Star at the Green Building Council of Australia to contributing to global initiatives like CRREM, SBTi, and the Climate Bonds Initiative—I’ve seen firsthand how standards can drive meaningful change when they’re built through inclusive, consensus-driven processes. Joining the GRESB Foundation Board is an opportunity to help evolve these standards in ways that are both ambitious and implementable, and to ensure they continue to reflect the needs of investors, industry, and the planet.
How does your organization view sustainability and what is your organization’s approach to responsible investing?
The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) leads the sustainable transformation of the built environment in Australia. Our goal is to deliver healthy, resilient, and positive places for people and nature. We deliver this through collaborative activities, industry development, advocacy, and the Green Star rating system. Green Star is widely used by investors to assess ESG performance across real assets, providing a trusted framework for responsible investment.
A key goal of ours is to ensure our advocacy goals and programs align with global taxonomies and disclosure frameworks—including GRESB, CRREM, SBTi, and the Climate Bonds Initiative—and contribute to national finance and policy efforts through the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy and international working groups. Our goal is to make ESG integration easier, clearer, and more actionable for investors.
How does your organization use GRESB and its data?
GBCA relies on GRESB as a key reference point for ensuring our Green Star rating system meets investor expectations. GRESB helps us ensure that our certification pathways—across design, construction, and operational performance—are investor-relevant and compatible with international disclosure frameworks. This alignment helps ensure our members are prepared to both achieve the GRESB requirements and be prepared for any future changes.
In brief, can you tell us where you think sustainability needs to go in the future and what role organizations like GRESB will play?
There are over a billion assets on the planet, and the task ahead is to move all of them, not just the good performers. We need to move away from just driving “good to green” to driving “black to good,” ensuring that all assets—not just the top performers—are on a credible path to sustainability. This means integrating ESG into every asset class, including those with high emissions or complex risks. Organizations like GRESB will be essential in guiding this transition, translating global frameworks into actionable standards, and providing investors with the data and tools they need to drive change across portfolios. In other words, we need to figure out how to deliver a billion better buildings.
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