ESG, Real Estate and the Six Stages of Grief
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 […]
Read more ESG Tools for an Emerging Asset Class
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, […]
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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 […]
Read more 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, […]
Read more 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. […]
Read more What Investors Really Want…
…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 […]
Read more 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 […]
Read more Creating Value through Sustainability: Take Action on ESG or Be Left Behind
Recent climate change impacts are increasing demand for the adoption of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) initiatives. Investors and tenants are creating a greater push for more energy and water efficiency investments, climate change resilience preparedness, and workplace health safety and productivity. As ESG becomes increasingly important, investors and regional and national regulators will progressively mandate greater transparency […]
Read more 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 […]
Read more 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 […]
Read more Real Estate Lending and ESG: Observations from the 2015 GRESB Debt Survey
Over the past three months, I’ve been speaking with real estate debt fund managers about the new GRESB Debt Survey, an assessment designed to evaluate and benchmark, but also, to guide, the sustainability engagement and performance of real estate lenders. Recognized as “at least a decade behind the equity side of real estate,” sustainability integration […]
Read more Resilience: Surviving and Thriving in the Face of Change
Thinking about disasters is a hard sell. But whether we think about them or not, we pay for them. According to the 2015 UNISDR Global Assessment Report, expected annual global losses are estimated to reach $314 billion in the built environment alone. All indicators suggest that the frequency and intensity of disasters will increase, meaning […]
Read more Long-Term Horizons and Materiality Test
There is consensus among leading industry bodies that an assessment of materiality in the context of financial information, involves a qualitative assessment that takes into account context and surrounding circumstances. In the case of non-financial data, as well as defining the scope of what is material, the challenges in collecting robust and rigorous ESG data means that context […]
Read more Skytop ESG Summit – Carbon War Room REIT paper
On Friday June 19, NASDAQ, the world’s second largest electronic stock exchange, hosted an audience hungry for the best. I’m not talking about Fogo de Chao’s ringing of the closing bell after their successful IPO rose nearly 30% on that day’s market debut – this group expected much more. This audience of nearly 200 capital market experts, institutional shareholders, and company professionals descended on […]
Read more Digital Realty Trust Issues First Global Green Property Bond
The property sector appears to be warming up to green bonds. Over the last year, we have seen a series of offerings from Vornado Realty Trust, Regency Centers, Unibail-Rodamco, Vasakronan, and Stockland. A new, $500 million green bond issued by Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE ticker DLR, more on GBIG) marks an important step forward for property-based bonds. Digital’s new bond is distinguished by […]
Read more Green Capital For Greener Buildings: GRESB Green Bond Guidelines for the Real Estate Sector
The property sector has recently received significant attention related to climate change and sustainability efforts, and rightfully so. Contributing one-third of global carbon emissions and consuming 40% of global energy and resources, 25% of water and 60% of electricity (in Europe and the US, this is even over 80%), the real estate sector constitutes one of the […]
Read more Trends in Responsible Investing: Show Me the Money
Last week, I spoke at the ARES Seminar on Sustainability in Real Estate in Tokyo about trends in Responsible Investing, and why green is the color of money. Without a doubt this is a hot topic, as Responsible Investing is getting more and more attention, while an increasing amount of investors are incorporating its principles […]
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