The 2021 reporting season is almost here
The Assessment Portal will open for participation on April 1, 2021. A good first step is to review the Assessment Reference Guides, which provide detailed information on each of the Assessment indicators. The Reference Guides are available on the Participant Guidance Page, our document directory, as well as via the direct links below:
Participant Agreement
In 2021, all participating fund managers are required to have signed the GRESB Participant Agreement, which includes our Participant T&Cs. This will also ensure that you receive an invoice to pay your 2021 fees. If you have not already received an invoice or are ready to start that process, please fill in the short form on this page.
You can find the 2021 fee schedule here.
Once again, the Portal opens on April 1 and, as in previous years, the GRESB Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessment submissions are due by July 1, 2021.
If you have any questions about participating in the 2021 Assessments or any feedback for us, please contact the GRESB Helpdesk at any time.
Best regards,
GRESB
Benefits of Participating in the 2021 GRESB Assessment
By participating, you’ll have access to high-quality ESG data and powerful analytical tools to benchmark your ESG performance, identify areas for improvement and engage with your investors. You’ll also be better positioned to attract new investors who require more extensive ESG disclosure. Learn more about the benefits of participating.
Free Online Training
GRESB offers online training to help walk you through the reporting process. You can register for the free courses here.
On March 16 & 17, we held live Q&A sessions for the Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessments. If you missed them or want to watch again, please find the links below.
For those who are based in Singapore, our GRESB Training Partner, Paia Consulting, is organizing an in-person training session on March 25. Find out more information here.
What’s new?
SFDR
- We have recently updated our previously published Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Gap Analysis. You can take a look at the updated mapping here. For more information on the SFDR Solution, check out our SFDR information page.
TCFD
- A recent paper from Zurich on the quality and content of the growing number of climate-related disclosures from TCFD-supporting firms comes to “the sobering conclusion that the firms’ TCFD support is mostly cheap talk and that firms cherry-pick to report primarily non-material climate risk information.” This corroborates the growing importance of standardized TCFD reporting. With the TCFD-aligned integration of the Resilience Module complete, GRESB is exploring the case for 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 Tool
- As commitments around Net Zero continue to pick up steam in the financial industry, an understanding of Paris-alignment and transition risk has never been more important. GRESB is working on a solution to help its Members evaluate 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.
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.
Read the Journal here.
New Members: Welcome to GRESB
Green Building Japan – Real Estate and Infrastructure Industry Partner
“As a forum for connecting people interested in promoting sustainable built environment, Green Building Japan (“GBJ”) has sought stronger coalition on sustainability with global organisations promoting sustainable built environment. As a part of this initiatives, GBJ applied for Industry Membership at GRESB, and GBJ is now excited to work closer with GRESB as Industry Partner.”
Swiss Finance & Property AG – Real Estate Investor Member
“Thanks to GRESB, the impact of ESG factors on the portfolio will be reliably depicted – a clear customer need! We will definitely benefit from the comparable and standardised data for ESG reporting.”
Atlas Capital Team L.P. – Real Estate Investor Member
BEAM Society Limited – Real Estate Industry Partner
Hoare Lea LLP – Real Estate Partner
Sunsuper Pty Ltd as trustee for Sunsuper Superannuation Fund – Real Estate and Infrastructure Investor Member
GRESB Insights
The theme for our blog GRESB Insights in March is Health & Well-being. You can access all posts here. Next month’s topic will be “ESG Reporting“.
GRESB Insights is open to contributions from GRESB Investor Members, Participant Members, Partners and Industry Partners. Find out more here.
Resilience Insights
GRESB recently released our 5 Resilience Insights series. This series is meant to serve three main purposes. Firstly, to put our learnings from the three-year lifecycle of the GRESB Resilience Module into context and provide an orientation of how they guided the integration of climate-related resilience into the main Assessments. Secondly, to provide expert commentary on subjects core to the understanding of resilience, particularly as they relate to real assets. And thirdly, to disseminate high-level output/insights from the final iteration of the Resilience Module.
- Part 1: The Evolution of Real Asset Resilience
- Part 2: Climate Risk in Context
- Part 3: Leading Resilient Organizations
- Part 4: Toolkit for Managing Climate Risk and Resilience
- Part 5: Social Risk and Resilience
2021 BREEAM Asia Awards Results
On the afternoon of Mar 3, 2021, at the BRE China Awards and BREEAM 30th Anniversary held at The Langham Shanghai, GRESB and BREEAM announced the winners for the inaugural GRESB BREEAM Asia Awards recognising responsible investments in real estate in Asia. There were three award categories this year.
The awards were presented to:
- Best Performing Entity: White Peak Real Estate Investment
- Individual Leadership (Investor category): Ms. Yoo-Kyung Park, Head of APAC, Global Responsible Investment & Governance, APG Asset Management Asia
- Individual Leadership (Manager category): Dr. Raymond Yau, General Manager, Technical Services and Sustainable Development, Swire Properties
What is GRESB Reading?
- Financial Times: Fund managers’ attention shifts from risks to opportunities as policymakers focus on infrastructure targets
- ESG Scoring: Avoiding the pitfalls of ESG Scores
- PRI Business Case: Proposals to Transition to a Public Benefit Corporation
- Net-Zero Backlash: Companies may be relying far too much on ‘net’ and far too little on ‘zero’
- Healthy Buildings: The financial impact of healthy buildings
Events
- This webinar explores the changing landscape of real asset investments in the of real asset investments in the context of climate change and draws from the experiences of global and regional players to illustrate their management processes and practices. It presents the GRESB Assessments and the TCFD reporting framework, which are tools that real estate and infrastructure fund managers can use to meet investor expectations for ESG transparency and performance. Erik Landry, GRESB’s Climate Change Specialist will also be speaking at this event.
- Join us on March 24 for the third in a series of 3 webinars on ESG and the 2021 GRESB Real Estate Assessment. This installment will look at the Development Component of the GRESB Real Estate Assessment. More information to follow. This webinar will be held in Spanish and English.
- In its sixteenth year, the Forum brings together the most active private equity IR, marketing and communications professionals to focus on best practices in LP relations, branding, communications and marketing strategies in the current market.
- A pioneering 5 day online short course (spread over 6 weeks) which will immerse you in new thinking about the landlord and tenant relationship. Delivered in 8 units, you’ll come away equipped with the practical skills to design and implement a successful customer experience (CX) strategy that will help drive revenue, increase customer retention and build brand loyalty.
PERE Global Summit | May 10
- The world’s largest gathering of private real estate capital at the most innovative event of the year – the PERE Global Summit on 10-14 May connects you with the industry leaders to stay ahead of the current markets.Ruben Langbroek GRESB’s head of Asia Pacific will also be speaking at this event.
ESG & Sustainability in Real Estate Summit| June 16-17
- During the ESG & Sustainability Summit, we will look for answers on how to create a future-proof construction and real estate sector that contributes to solving social challenges. Ruben Langbroek, GRESB’s Head of Asia Pacific, will also be speaking at the event about the need for companies to further embrace sustainable, responsible investments by applying an ESG lens and the latest benchmark for the Australian and global industry
GRESB Foundation Update
GRESB Foundation Update: the work to establish the GRESB Foundation and develop a long-term strategy in consultation with the industry continues, albeit a little slowly. The current timeline is set out below.
Quarter 2, 2021
- Establish Foundation
- Call for Foundation Board nominations
- Appoint Foundation Board positions
- Call for governance group nominations
- 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
Further updates will be provided in future newsletters and on our website.