Improve your ESG Reporting to the GRESB Assessments
We’ve opened up our free online training to guide participants in reporting to the 2021 GRESB Assessments. The training is designed for new GRESB participants who are looking to gain competency in reporting to the 2021 Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessments.
It’s also relevant for existing participants and GRESB Partners who would like a refresher on the reporting process. We encourage you to enroll as soon as possible and start familiarising yourself with the materials.
Live Interactive Q&A Sessions
We are hosting live Q&A sessions via Zoom in mid-March to accompany the online training course. These sessions are a good opportunity to ask any questions you have on the reporting process.
- Real Estate live Q&A – Asia Pacific, March 16 at 6:00 pm AEDT / 3:00 pm SGT / 3:00 pm HKT / 8:00 am CET. Register here
- Real Estate live Q&A – Europe & North America , March 16 at 5:00 pm CET / 4:00 pm GMT / 12:00 pm EDT / 9:00 am PDT. Register here
- Infrastructure live Q&A – Asia Pacific, March 17at 6:00 pm AEDT / 3:00 pm SGT / 3:00 pm HKT / 8:00 am CET. Register here
- Infrastructure live Q&A – Europe & North America, March 17at 5:00 pm CET / 4:00 pm GMT / 12:00 pm EDT / 9:00 am PDT. Register here
Whats New in 2021?
- TCFD reports: The 2021 Assessments have been designed to capture elements, not only across the four pillars of the TCFD, but also across each of its 11 recommended disclosures. With this new level of alignment around climate-related risk, GRESB will be generating structured and transparent TCFD reports that leverage the GRESB process of standardizing, validating, and benchmarking data to provide our Members with clear, concise, and actionable insights on how entities are handling climate-related issues.
- Transition Risk: As financial commitments around Net Zero continue to pick up steam, an understanding of Paris-alignment and transition risks has never been more important. GRESB plans to help its Members understand their portfolios and assets against these issues, including benchmarking against the science-based CRREM global decarbonisation pathways, with GHG metrics and analytics built from the bottom-up.
- SFDR: After proactively monitoring, engaging and complying with the legislative proposals related to the EU’s wider Sustainable Finance Framework, GRESB is looking to introduce an SFDR reporting solution to help GRESB participants to meet their regulatory disclosure obligations. Find out more here.
2021 Assessment Timeline
On March 1, we will release the 2021 Real Estate Assessment Pre-release and Reference Guide and the 2021 Infrastructure Assessments Reference Guides, so look out for an email with the details.
Once again, the Portal opens on April 1st and, as in previous years, the GRESB Real Estate & Infrastructure Assessment reporting cycle closes on July 1, 2021. See the 2021 Assessment Timeline for more details.
If you have any questions or any feedback for us, feel free to contact the GRESB Help Desk at any time.
Best Regards,
GRESB
GRESB Foundation Update
As communicated in the last newsletter, we are developing a long-term strategy in consultation with the industry to guide our collective effort. The initial steps for this work are set out below. These will weave into the activities of the GRESB Foundation, which is due to become fully operational by April 2021. The Foundation will govern the GRESB Standards upon which the GRESB Assessments are based, ensuring they remain independent and reflective of the industry and members they represent.
- Quarter 1, 2021
- Establish Foundation
- Call for Foundation Board nominations
- Appoint Foundation Board positions
- Call for governance group nominations
- Quarter 2, 2021
- Appoint governance group positions
- Hold first meetings of governance groups
- Develop the process for annual Standard review and approval
- Quarter 3, 2021
- Develop Strategic Plan for Standards
- Draft key changes for 2022 Standards and put out for consultation
- Quarter 4, 2021
- Consultation period ends
- Approve 2022 Standards
- Publish 2022 Standards
The process of establishing the Foundation is progressing, working closely with the former non-executive directors of the GRESB Board (Patrick Kanters, Mathieu Elshout and Deborah Ng) and the chairs of the Real Estate and Infrastructure Advisory Boards (Kathleen Jowett and Alison Schneider respectively). Further updates will be provided in future newsletters and on our website.
GRESB Chooses SRI Quality System Registrar (SRI) as Independent, 3rd-Party Assessment and Validation Services Provider
GRESB is excited to announce that it has chosen SRI Quality System Registrar (SRI) as its independent, 3rd-party assessment and validation services provider. Third-party validation was previously conducted by Green Business Certification, Inc. (GBCI).
SRI is an international assessment body headquartered in Seven Fields, PA, with offices in Pittsburgh, PA (HQ); Portland, OR; Ann Arbor, MI; Dublin, Ireland; and Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1991, SRI is accredited by ANAB, RvA, IATF, AA1000, USGBC (GBCI), WELL (IWBI), and Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (C2CPII), and ResponsibleSteel™ (in process) to assess and assist in conformance to quality, environmental, health and safety, information security, sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), green building rating systems, and other international standards and frameworks.
As a Certified B Corp, SRI meets the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
ESG Means Business, Spring 2021 is a Special Report Published by Institutional Real Estate, Inc. in Cooperation with GRESB.
We were delighted to partner once again with IREI on their special report ESG Means Business, Sprint 2021. The new, free, 24-page report focuses on ESG performance and impact metrics.
It gives you an overview of how Institutional real estate investors across the globe are implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles as part of their overall investment approach, as they embrace the credo of “doing well by doing good.”
IPE Real Assets Looks at the Emergence of Net-Zero Targets Among Investors and Fund Managers
The January/February 2021 edition of IPE Real Assets looks at the emergence of net-zero targets among investors and fund managers. The report shines a light on some of the leading participants in both real estate and infrastructure assessments and interviews nine of the best-performing GRESB participants in 2020.
Latest GLIO Journal Spotlights ESG Investment in the Infrastructure Sector
The latest issue of the GLIO Journal homes in on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters. You’ll find CEO perspectives, information on the launch of the GLIO/GRESB ESG Index and insights from the infrastructure sector on the journey to net-zero, energy efficiency and investor strategies.
GRESB and BREEAM Partner To Recognize Responsible Real Estate Investments in Asia
We’re excited to be partnering with BREEAM to recognise responsible real estate investments and individual leadership in Asia, as part of the annual BRE China Awards.
On the afternoon of Mar 3, 2021, the BRE China Awards and BREEAM 30th Anniversary will take place at The Langham Shanghai, announcing the winners and showcasing the most innovatively sustainable BREEAM rated buildings of the previous 12 months. For the first time, the Awards will also recognize the high achievements of BREEAM assessors as well as responsible investments in real estate in Asia, through a partnership with GRESB.
Events we are participating in
New Members: Welcome to GRESB
ABeam Consulting – Real Estate Premier Partner
“ABeam Consulting has been supporting our clients with annual GRESB submissions since 2016. As the number of our client and GRESB relevant queries from potential clients increase, we are very interested in joining GRESB as a Premier Partner so that we can provide up-to-date GRESB information and GRESB-interfaced data management system to our clients.”
Sociëteit Vastgoed – Real Estate Industry Partner
“Clearly more action is needed, with a focus on impact, collaboration, sharing success and doing it. As a result, circularity and sustainability will be more widely supported. Construction, use, reuse. Here too, new concepts are emerging. New collaborations. Sociëteit Vastgoed is proud and enthusiastic to work together with GRESB on Circularity because Circularity is all about awareness.Together we can deploy a realistic sense of urgency, where we find a balance when sustainability, profit and purpose become concrete work in progress”
Neuberger Berman – Real Estate Investor Member
Rina Prime – Real Estate Partner
SuReal – Real Estate Partner
GRESB Insights
We recently published our 2021 editorial calendar, which was developed collaboratively with our stakeholders. The theme for March will be “Health & Well-being.”
GRESB Insights is open to contributions from GRESB Investor Members, Participant Members, Partners and Industry Partners. Find out more here.
What GRESB is Reading
+ APG Names First Female CEO: The Netherlands’ largest pension services provider APG has named Annette Mosman as its first ever female chief executive officer.
+ European Central Bank:Euro central banks to commence TCFD disclosures for investment portfolios
+ Climate Change: Sea Levels Are Rising Faster Than Most Pessimistic Forecasts