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Name: Kristina Kloberdanz
Title: Chief Sustainability Office
Organization: Macquarie Asset Management
ESG Topics of Interest:
- Embedding sustainability at the executive level to drive strategy and impact across all asset classes.
- Supporting GRESB’s evolution toward performance-based assessments that incorporate Net Zero requirements.
- Promoting trust, transparency, and collaborative leadership to navigate regulatory challenges and ESG backlash.
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What motivated you to join the GRESB Foundation Board?
My career has focused on driving sustainability and corporate responsibility across industries, which naturally aligns with GRESB’s mission. Prior to joining Macquarie Asset Management, I served as Chief Sustainability Officer at Mastercard and led Corporate Responsibility at IBM.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to engage in several global initiatives aimed at advancing sustainable investment and responsible business practices. I serve on the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Strategy Group and the blended finance committee, as well as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). I also represent Macquarie on Focusing Capital on the Long Term (FCLT).
In addition, I’m a member of the S30 within the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), participate in the SMI’s Financial Services Taskforce, and am part of Sustainability 50. Previously, I chaired the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees Stakeholder Council, led the Brand and Reputation Management Committee for the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association, and contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Stakeholder Metrics Initiative.
Joining the GRESB Foundation Board is a natural extension of this work, offering the opportunity to contribute to shaping sustainability standards that are critical for our industry and for investors globally.
How does your organization view sustainability and what is your organization’s
approach to responsible investing?
Macquarie’s purpose is to empower people to innovate and invest for a better future. In MAM, we do this by aiming to invest to deliver positive impact.
We seek to invest sustainably because from our experience it leads to better outcomes for our clients, investee companies and their communities over the long term. By supporting businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and transition to a low -carbon economy, we believe our efforts can
help to preserve and create value, while delivering positive outcomes for communities and the environment.
We assess a range of commercial factors, including material ESG risks and opportunities where possible, before actively investing in companies and managing our portfolios over their holding period. This is part of our fiduciary responsibility to our clients. From our experience in the sectors in which we operate, ESG integration can improve operational performance and contribute towards reduced risk, improved productivity, increased cash flow and better long-term value. As such, a disciplined approach to ESG is fundamental.
How does your organization use GRESB and its data?
MAM requests that our infrastructure and real estate portfolio companies complete annual GRESB assessments. These assessments provide us with valuable insights as we develop sustainability strategies for our portfolio company assets and opportunities for best practices within our portfolio.
We proactively support portfolio companies to address GRESB requirements and harness feedback received from GRESB to enhance ESG performance over time. GRESB scores and peer comparisons also allow us to benchmark the ESG performance of our portfolio companies internally as well as externally against their GRESB peer group and the wider universe of GRESB participants.
Participation in tools like GRESB has encouraged portfolio companies to focus on a broad range of non-financial performance indicators, and they are increasingly embedding these considerations into their day-to-day operations and business strategy.
Participating assets have demonstrated improved performance, underlining the progress in ESG management across our portfolio and increasing the quantity and quality of ESG information made available to our clients.
What is next for ESG and what role will organizations like GRESB play going forward?
We see an increasingly diverse range of opportunities for investors with sustainability goals. Over the past year, the drive towards sustainability has shown remarkable resilience amid a turbulent period, including diverging opinions on the approach to ESG issues, intensifying geopolitical tensions and industry fragmentation, and the rapid uptake of generative AI highlighting the extensive energy demands.
Despite these factors, the energy transition has persisted, with investment driven by a growing demand for clean technology, record levels of investment, and policy support. That is why we are investing in renewable technologies at scale, along with opportunities in the circular economy, clean grid solutions, transportation, sustainable aviation fuels, and nature-based solutions. We also have an important role to play in supporting decarbonisation pathways that are well-managed and inclusive of workforces and local communities across more carbon-intensive industries. With a focus on investing to deliver positive
outcomes for our clients, investee companies and the communities we serve, we aim to continue to support the transition toward a more sustainable, low carbon, and climate-resilient future.
Organisations like GRESB play a leading role in ensuring we capture valuable ESG performance data, increasing the quantity and quality of information available to us and our clients.
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