Led by a Foundation Board composed of representatives from GRESB Members and Partners, the GRESB Foundation is the primary platform for GRESB to engage with the industry, owning and governing the standards upon which GRESB BV – a separate profit-for-purpose benefit corporation – performs its assessments.
The GRESB Foundation, GRESB BV and GRESB Members work as one to deliver a shared vision of an investment community that plays a central role in creating a more sustainable world, one where society can meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
The Role of the GRESB Foundation
As an independent standards-setting body, the GRESB Foundation works to develop, maintain, improve and publish GRESB Standards annually, in time for GRESB BV to perform its assessments.
Specifically, the GRESB Foundation:
- Facilitates active industry engagement and consensus on the GRESB Standards
- Ensures that the standards are feasible and can be practically implemented
- Provides inclusive representation across GRESB Members and Partners
- Ensures that the standards continually evolve to advance the foundation’s mission
The GRESB Standards
The GRESB Standards are a set of guidelines to assess and benchmark ESG and related performance of real and other assets. As such, the GRESB Standards will provide a globally recognized and consistent means of assessing and benchmarking the ESG performance of assets and portfolios. The Standards include the questions, evidence and indicators to assess ESG performance, including the weighting of the indicators.
The GRESB Foundation focuses on the development and approval of the GRESB Standards. GRESB BV uses the Standards to assess the ESG performance of participants, including applying quality validation, scoring, and benchmarking,
GRESB Foundation 2024 Roadmap & 2024 Standards Changes
The GRESB Foundation just released its forward-looking 2024 Roadmap, which reflects upon future priorities for the Standards for the near- and longer-term future. The document also highlights the Foundation’s hierarchy of advisory groups that help evolve the Standards, alongside critical support from the industry.
GRESB also just released its much-anticipated 2024 Standards changes. Every year, as part of the annual standards development process, the Real Estate and Infrastructure Standards Committees review stakeholder feedback and potential improvements to the GRESB Standards. They then make recommendations of their endorsed changes to the Foundation Board, which ultimately determines the advancements to the Standards.
GRESB also recently announced a new Infrastructure Development Asset Assessment, which will launch in April 2024. This new assessment is designed to cater to pre-operational assets in the development and construction phase.
For a detailed description of the process, the objectives, and the changes, please visit our 2024 GRESB Standards – Roadmap, changes and events page. Please also see more information about how GRESB aligns with other ESG reporting frameworks.
The GRESB Foundation Board
The GRESB Foundation’s formal decision-making body, the GRESB Foundation Board is composed of the following GRESB Members and Partners who each serve a three-year term (which began in January 2022):
- Esther An, City Developments Limited. View Board Member Profile
- Matt Christensen, AllianzGI. View Board Member Profile
- Mathieu Elshout, PATRIZIA. View Board Member Profile
- Vincent Felteau, PSP Investments. View Board Member Profile
- Patrick Kanters, APG Asset Management. View Board Member Profile
- Maarten Jennen, PGGM (Deputy Chair). View Board Member Profile
- Kathleen Jowett, LaSalle Global Solutions (Chair). View Board Member Profile
- Helena Olin, AP2. View Board Member Profile
- Will MacAulay, HESTA. View Board Member Profile
- Dominique Moerenhout, EPRA. View Board Member Profile
- Shama Naqushbandi , AIMCo. View Board Member Profile
- Mary Nicholson, Macquarie Asset Management.
- Stéphane Villemain, Ivanhoé Cambridge. View Board Member Profile
The interim secretary of the Foundation Board is Roxana Isaiu, Chief Product Officer.
Supporting the GRESB Foundation
The work of the GRESB Foundation is supported by a number of committees and working groups.
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The Real Estate Standards Committee works to oversee the development and maintenance of the GRESB Real Estate Standard, reporting directly to the Foundation Board.
Real Estate Standards Committee
- Jorge Chapa, Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA)
- Abigail Dean, Nuveen Real Estate
- Dan Grandage, Abrdn
- Helen Gurfel, CBRE
- Ryuichi Horie, CSR Design
- Nina James, Blackstone
- Grace Kwok, AEC Group
- Olivia Muir, UBS (Deputy Chair)
- Darryl Neate, Real Property Association of Canada
- Aleksandra Njagulj, DWS Group (Chair)
- Clementine Pacitti, Klepierre
- Andrea Palmer, PGGM
- Rob Simpson, Ivanhoe Cambridge
- Benjamin Thomas, The GPT Group
- Peter van den Tol, MN
- Derk Welling, APG Asset Management
The committee’s secretary is Charles van Thiel, GRESB’s Director of Real Estate.
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The Infrastructure Standards Committee works to oversee the development and maintenance of the standards, reporting directly to the GRESB Foundation Board.
Infrastructure Standards Committee
- Jane Baseby, PATRIZIA Infrastructure
- Lucinda Callow, DWS
- Olta Cibuku, Amp Energy
- Jon Collinge, Morrison & Co
- Gerry Connelly, Amey Investment Management Services Limited
- Chandra Eastwell, Macquarie Group
- Neil Krawitz, Arcus Infrastructure Partners
- Shali Lingaretnam, Victorian Funds Management Corporation
- James Milner-Smith, Neos Networks
- Ruairi Revell, abrdn
- Manuel Rodríguez, AINDA Energia & Infraestructura (Deputy Chair)
- Katherine Sherwin, BlackRock (Chair)
- Ainsley Simpson, Infrastructure Sustainability Council
The committee’s secretary is Joss Blamire, GRESB’s Director of Infrastructure.
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The Real Estate and Infrastructure Expert Resource Groups support the work of the GRESB Foundation by providing technical expertise, industry resources and guidance through various Working Groups, called as they are needed.
Real Estate Expert Resource Group
- Mari Aanesen, CBRE Investment Management
- Matthew Aberant, WSP
- Daniel Baldauf, Schneider Electric
- René Barownick, Caleus
- Stephanie Barr, Harrison Street
- Michèle Bolliger, Credit Suisse Asset Management (Switzerland) Ltd
- Claire Bradbury, Carbon Intelligence
- Tsilah Burman, CBRE Investment Management
- Marine Calmettes, Frasers Property industrial
- Michael Chang, Host Hotels & Resorts
- Chewy Chang, Dexus
- Poonam Datar, Cleaning Accountability Framework
- Sophie de Malefette, AXA IM
- Wietse de Vries, Almazara
- Anna Denell, Vasakronan AB
- Lissa Engle, Berkeley Capital Group [BCG]
- Harry Etra, HXE Partners
- Eli Faid, Goodman
- James Fisher, BRE Group
- Katie Fluence, RE Tech Advisors
- Joanna Frank, Center for Active Design
- Bob Fynan, QIC GRE
- Christina Georgiadou, BRE
- Martin Gettings, Brookfield Asset Management
- Ethan Gilbert, Prologis, Inc.
- Steve Goossens, APG Asset Management
- Iris Hagdorn, HIH Invest Real Estate GmbH
- Shawn Hesse, JLL
- David Hodgins, Sustento Group LLC
- Sophia Holighaus, Frasers Property Industrial
- Ali Hoss, Triovest
- Phil Jonckheer, Keepfactor
- Lefébure Juliette, AXA IM
- Sean Kahn, Rest Super
- Sara Karerat, Center for Active Design
- Hideki Kobayashi, Mitsubishi Estate Co.,LTD
- Stefanie Koetschau, GARBE Industrial Real Esttae GmbH
- James LEE, Chongbang Holdings International Ltd
- Valmond Liew, ESR Group
- Oliver Light, Carbon Intelligence
- Jessica Long, Nuveen Real Estate
- Katherine Lundevall, AXA Investment Managers
- Christopher Maddern, Schneider Electric
- Hanae Maed, CSR Design Green Investment Advisory, Co, Ltd.
- Rebeca Mantovaneli, BuildingMinds
- Philipp Müller, LaSalle Investment Management
- Greg Munford, Guardians of New Zealand Superfund
- David Natt, Avanath Capital
- Ridhima Nayyar, RioCan
- Georgie Nelson, abrdn
- Anna Maria Pacini, DeA Capital Real Estate SGR
- Susanne Marttila, KGAL
- Gautami Palanki, The Howard Hughes Corporation
- Jeffrey Palmer, JLL
- Stephen Penstone, Quinn & Partners
- Bethan Phillips, Verco
- Christine Pout, BRE
- Mary Power, Lendlease
- Daniele Pronestì, CDP – Cassa Depositi e Prestiti
- Alexandra Rieckhoff, GPT
- Alejandro Romero, BRE
- Ruth Rózpide, Mace Group
- Tim Simopoulos, Colliers
- Jag Singh, Cadillac Fairview
- Hannah Slodounik, WSP
- Melissa Smith, Sun Communities
- Andy Smith, S2 Partnership
- Tomoko Takagi, CSR Design Green Investment Advisory, Co, Ltd.
- Andrew Thai, Frasers Property Australia
- Joanna Tomlinson, EVORA Global
- Brian Trainor, Heitman
- Martijn Vlasveld, Edmond de Rotshild
- Emily Wei, HXE Partners
- Kelly Worden, IWBI
Infrastructure Expert Resource Group
- Ioannis Armaos, BlackRock
- Kaj Bakker, Arcus Infrastructure Partners LLP
- Joseph Bensadon, AXA IM
- Sabine Chalopin, Denham Capital
- Gwen Colin, Vauban Infrastructure Partners
- Cederik Engel, CCE Holding GmbH
- Geoffrey Fudurich, Quinn & Partners
- Kerry Griffiths, Infrastructure Sustainability Council
- Shinae Haidley, AMP Capital
- Karen Hill, abrdn
- Christina Hughes, HRL Morrison & Co
- Erik Joustra, NN Group N.V.
- Sean Kahn, Rest Super
- Roger Lewis, Downing LLP
- Susanne Marttila, KGAL GmbH & Co. KG
- Saki Nagita, CSR Design Green Investment Advisory, Co., Ltd.
- Natalie Sinha, UBS Asset Management
- Amanda Wallace, J.P. Morgan Investment Management
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The Net Zero Working Groups focuses on reviewing the various perspectives relating to net zero in order to facilitate convergence towards a definition for the GRESB Standards and to explore the core assumptions and beliefs that drive divergence in what net zero means and what constitutes a valid journey to achieve it.
Real Estate
- Joey Aoun, Savills Investment Management LLP
- Silje Njå Bertelsen, Grieg Investor
- Eric Bradley, Taurus Investment Holdings, LLC
- Ayla Dinçay, Science Based Targets Initative
- Rebecca Fitzgerald, Investa Property Group
- Katie Fluence, RE Tech Advisors
- Carlos Flores, NABERS
- Karen Frizzell, Minto
- Lee Hodgkinson, Dream REIT
- Rachel Horwat, Ivanhoé Cambridge
- Mark Hutchinson, Canada Green Building Council
- Sagar Kapadia, Equity Residential
- Hideki Kobayashi, Mitsubishi Estate Co
- Calvin Lee Kwan, Link Asset Management Ltd
- James Lee, Chongbang Holdings
- Juliette Lefebure, AXA IM
- Lina Makrodimtri, Schroders REIM
- Brendan McCarthy, Calvert Research and Management
- Kelly Meissner, Ventas, Inc
- Brady Mills, Partner Energy
- Brett Ormrod, LaSalle Investment Management
- Joe Smith, UBS Asset Management
- Ben Thomas, The GPT Group
Infrastructure
- Jane Baseby, PATRIZIA AG
- Olta Cibuku, Amp Energy
- Mark Edwards, Gatwick Airport Ltd
- John Gerrard Connelly, Albany SPC Services Limited
- Lena Hörnlein, B Capital Partners
- Nicole Jullian Sahr, Endeavour Energy
- Sean Kahn, Rest Super
- Grace Kwok, Allied Sustainability and Environmental Consultants Group Limited
- Sandra Lauterbach, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners
- Helen Murphy, Cory
- Carol O’Sullivan, Powerco
- Ruairi Revell, abrdn Core Infrastructure
- Tim Robinson, Quinn+Partners
- Mitch Seider, PSP Investments
- Vere Shaba, Greendesign Africa
- Cameron Talbot-Stern, APG Asset Management
- Cassie Winn, JPMorgan Asset Management
Creating a roadmap for GRESB Standards and Assessments
In 2021, the GRESB Foundation launched an 18-month stakeholder engagement process to create a shared vision for future GRESB Standards and to develop a roadmap for the future with all GRESB Members and Partners for implementation. Read more about our Strategic Roadmap.
For information on roles within the GRESB Foundation, please see the terms of reference for:
Watch this video to learn more about the GRESB Foundation.
Please find the latest information on joining the GRESB Foundation Standards Committees.