A 2050 target but no time to spare!
We are now in a critical period requiring rapid and urgent action to retrofit our buildings in a bid to address climate change. The Paris Agreement set a global imperative to restrict global warming to 2⁰C or below. To achieve this ambition, global greenhouse gas emissions need to reduce rapidly today with developed economies ultimately becoming Net Zero by 2050. We cannot afford to bide our time and cut emissions later.
Read more Reporting tips and guidance
Reporting of sustainability and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) has evolved significantly over the years. Several organisations have matured and become leading examples; illustrating how reporting has been a way for them to better inform stakeholders, and as a tool for them to reflect on their journey and upgrade their approach to sustainability or ESG.
Read more Tips for stress free reporting
Managing the reporting and assurance process for your company’s ESG outcomes is difficult at the best of times, 2020 is set to become even more challenging.2019 will go down as the year the world announced a clear intent to move to a low-carbon economy. In 2020 governments, institutions and businesses will have to address how they manage this transition in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of their businesses.
Read more ESG Reporting: 5 Top Tips to get started
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria are a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments.
Read more Putting Your Best Foot Forward with Investors: Reporting CRE ESG Data in Four Steps
We’ve entered a new era of sustainability reporting, one characterized by the need for high quality, context-based, decision useful information. Having clear and concise data helps improve decision making, accelerates the accomplishment of goals and enables transparency across organizations and stakeholders, including investors.
Read more Increasing the Potential for Data Insights in Commercial Real Estate
Many successful decisions are made on insights provided by good data, but the challenge in any industry is defining what “good data” is exactly. GRESB, an investor-driven organization committed to assessing the Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) performance of real assets globally has taken the initial step to define “high-quality data” with the release of their 2019 Data Quality Standard Assessment. Still in the preliminary phase, this assessment was created with the help of GRESB Governance Bodies and an Industry Technical Working Group. The Technical Working Group consists of industry experts with relevant subject matter expertise, interest in the assessment and time dedicated to fully participate.
Read more Using the Environmental Management System Framework to Approach Data Management
As useful as data can be, it can be equally cumbersome to collect and process. To properly manage data and ensure its highest level of quality, a process should be developed. The ISO 14001 framework for Environmental Management Systems follows a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and can also serve as a guide to data management, as outlined below.
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Why Data Quality Matters
In the case of ESG data, we expect companies to accurately report how sustainable they are. Quality really does matter, especially when it’s behind major business decisions.
Read more ESG Data Quality: The Foundation of an Impactful ESG Program
Successful ESG programs in commercial real estate often share one key characteristic with the assets they represent: a strong foundation. Just as a building requires proper framing and construction at its base to maintain stability, ESG programs rely critically upon high-quality ESG data if they are to function as desired. Only with information that is effectively collected, aggregated, and analyzed can you appropriately set baselines, establish metrics and key performance indicators, and track progress toward organizational goals.
Read more From Data Woes to Data Bliss: 7 Steps to Improve the Quality of Your ESG Data
Data may be kryptonite to many, but it’s essential for all. Good data—data that is accurate, comparable and easy to understand—allows sustainability managers to evaluate performance and provides incisive insights to help asset managers make informed investment decisions.
Read more Simple factors to consider when collecting ESG performance data
The success of our decision-making in life can be impacted by the quality of data which is used to inform this decision. High-quality data gives us the confidence to make decisions efficiently and effectively. This could be something as simple as deciding what time you need to wake up in order to make your 9 am meeting. We use data as the basis for making this decision. For example, how long it takes for me to walk to the train station, and how likely it is that my train will be delayed or canceled?
Read more CaGBC launches ‘Disclosure Challenge’ to champion building data transparency
Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) launched the CaGBC Disclosure Challenge initiative to support and champion the importance of data transparency in the Canadian real estate market and encourage broader uptake of benchmarking programs across the country
Read more GRESB Data Quality: Progress through platforms
In the quest to achieve data quality, sustainability and cost savings, it’s important to align, not compete, with global initiatives like the GRESB Data Quality Standard. While surface-level data from bills and meters show us symptoms of poor performance, impactful action requires deeper knowledge of the root cause. To reach that root cause, we need timely, accurate equipment performance data.
Read more Digital Infrastructure Part 1: Energy
The internet is big, and it is growing bigger. This is what happens on the internet every 60 seconds, and it is but a tiny snapshot of everything that happens. Our digital lives are becoming increasingly dependent on this network, but this is having an increasing physical impact too. Alongside the visible infrastructure that crisscross […]
Read more A Performance-Based Future for Real Asset ESG Reporting
During the past decade, GRESB has worked closely with institutional investors to create a global benchmark for the environmental, social, and government performance of real assets. This long-term effort has been rooted in the belief that information should be aggregated to the level of an investable entity — a company, fund, JV, or similar vehicle […]
Read more 2019: Trends in Sustainable Real Assets
2018 was an exciting year for sustainable real assets, as more assets were required to participate in benchmarking or disclosure. As a result, we shifted from talking about regulatory and compliance obligations and costs to sustainability as a value-add driver of cashflow and asset values. The federal government’s retreat only increased the focus on sustainable […]
Read more Towards zero – a targeted approach
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report gave a stark warning that current pledges from governments are not enough to avoid dangerous levels of climate change. In order to avoid this, we need to be aiming for a maximum of 1.5 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels. Current INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) to 2030 mean that […]
Read more How to have your company thrive in 2019 and beyond
We are living in a different era. Data is the new oil and companies are now increasingly awash in information being piped in from the internet, from email, from internal accounting, asset management, tenants, vendors, partners and other stakeholders in your business. That doesn’t even begin to consider the impending deluge of data that sensors […]
Read more The Role of Data in Reducing Risk and Driving Performance
In the fast-paced, seemingly ever-changing landscape of the real estate industry, in an effort to gain a competitive edge, organizations are continually striving to adopt the latest systems and practices. There is also an increasing focus on embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters at the core of business, to ensure that all development is sustainable. […]
Read more Real Estate Sustainability Performance (& Skydiving)
Skydiving can make you anxious. You may be reluctant to try it, you may not even entertain the thought of doing it. You’d certainly want to know that safety has been thoroughly planned, that you’re dealing with an experienced crew and a plane that actually works. Once you do it though, you’ll probably love it, […]
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