About Brookfield India REIT
Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (BIRET) is India’s first 100% institutionally managed real estate investment trust. BIRET’s portfolio comprises five Grade-A office parks in campus format across key gateway markets of India – Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida, and Kolkata. BIRET is sponsored by an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management Inc, one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers and investors across more than 30 countries.
Business type: Real Estate Investment Trust
Reporting region: Asia
AuM: INR 164 billion (approximately EUR 1.83 billion), as of March 31, 2023
Use of GRESB: Real Estate Development Benchmark & Public Disclosure
ESG in Focus:
Brookfield India REIT has set a target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 and has devised a number of short-term goals to meet this objective, which include:
- Increasing renewable energy use by 30% by 2025
- Reducing energy consumption, GHG emissions, and water consumption by 10% by 2025, starting from a 2019 baseline
- Obtaining building certifications for 95% of the portfolio by 2025
- Implementing environmental data monitoring for 100% of the portfolio by 2025
Developing sustainable strategies
Brookfield India REIT joined GRESB to assess and benchmark its investments across portfolios and to gain valuable insights into the opportunities, risks, and strategic decisions that are essential for navigating the industry’s transition towards a sustainable future.
The company’s ESG program drives value across both its physical and social initiatives, reflecting a pledge to positively impact its surrounding environments by creating safe, sustainable, and vibrant communities across the lifecycle of real estate, from design to operation. GRESB data and peer benchmarking have proven particularly helpful in this regard as they have helped the REIT achieve continual improvement in its ESG performance.
Specifically, GRESB data has helped Brookfield India REIT develop strategies to focus more on the areas of energy conservation, water conservation, and waste management. As part of these improvements, BIRET has developed a new strategy aiming to increase renewable energy use by 30% by 2025. To achieve this, the REIT has already installed 1.41 MWp of solar power capacity on the rooftops of its buildings.
Brookfield India REIT is taking steps towards waste management by introducing a “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” strategy to assist its tenants in reducing waste generation. BIRET is also diverting solid and wet waste from landfills by utilizing methods like composting and recycling. Furthermore, it is also planning to attain an IGBC net-zero waste certification to help in the promotion of sustainable best practices in the area of waste management in the country. Most of Brookfield India REIT’s buildings are already recognized with various industry-renowned certifications and ratings, such as IGBC certifications for green buildings, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) star ratings, Environment Management certifications ( ISO 14001), Energy Management certifications (ISO 50001), Health & wellbeing rating, British Safety Council Five Star Ratings campus, National Safety Council Certification, and more.
“We are pleased to receive a five-star rating from GRESB in our first year of participation. We take this achievement as an outcome of our commitment to sustainable business practices aligned with our global ESG framework. Our properties are at the forefront of our sustainability efforts, equipped with cutting-edge technologies that are accelerating our progress towards our net-zero goal by 2040. Our entire team is committed to ESG excellence and creating consistent value for our stakeholders. We’re closely analyzing our GRESB results to identify areas for improvement and taking proactive steps to promote a culture of sustainability across our portfolio,” said Alok Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Brookprop Management Services Private Limited, Manager of Brookfield India REIT.
Crafting a roadmap for BRSR and ESG Compliance
To achieve energy and emissions reductions and to keep ahead of regulatory changes, Brookfield India REIT is focused on ensuring that a comprehensive long-term strategy is in place. This plan includes continuously working on a framework that can accommodate and comply with the upcoming legal and/or volunteer requirements in financial disclosures, ESG, renewable energy, and more.
For instance, the new Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) recently became a requirement for top 1000 companies in India. Brookfield India REIT is operationalizing a detailed ESG framework that incorporates the requirements of BRSR voluntarily, in addition to ESG disclosures it is already currently sharing in line with GRI and SASB requirements
“Participating in GRESB can aid in disclosing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance by effectively encompassing all pertinent ESG topics and aligning with widespread reporting frameworks. This also allows the extraction of pertinent ESG information from GRESB data, which can be mapped to meet the BRSR requirements,” added Mr. Aggarwal.