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GRESB

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ESG benchmark
GRESB
Company typePrivate company
IndustryEnvironmental economics
Founded2009; 15 years ago (2009)
FoundersGroup of pension funds and Maastricht University
HeadquartersAmsterdam, Netherlands
Area servedWorldwide
ProductsSustainability assessments
OwnerGRESB not-for-profit foundation
Websitewww.gresb.com

GRESB is a Netherlands-based company that operates an annual sustainability assessment for standing real estate investments, real estate projects in development, infrastructure funds, and infrastructure assets. From these assessments, it provides standardized and validated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and benchmarks for the real assets investment community. Academic research has demonstrated that GRESB participation is a predicator of fund-level financial returns.

History and organizational structure

GRESB was established in 2009 as a collaboration between a group of pension funds and Maastricht University to assess the sustainability of real estate fund managers, later expanding into infrastructure. In 2014 the company was acquired by GBCI and then sold in 2020 through a management buyout in conjunction with Summit Partners. In 2024, General Atlantic acquired a majority stake in GRESB.

Today, GRESB is a certified B Corp with an associated but independent not-for-profit foundation that owns and governs the ESG standards upon which the GRESB assessments are based.

Assessment structure and impact

The annual results and benchmarks from GRESB's real estate and infrastructure assessments are used by fund managers to better understand their portfolio's relative performance against peers and by investors looking for standardized disclosures into a fund or firm's ESG strategies and performance. Recent scholarship suggests that over the past few years there has been significant adoption of and reporting to GRESB within the real estate industry and that GRESB participation and performance are both significant predicators of cross-sectoral fund returns. The relationship between GRESB, its foundation, and the industry representatives that sit on the foundation's board has been criticized as allowing investors too much freedom to set the standards that funds are evaluated against.

Indices

The GRESB Global Sustainable Index was launched in 2006, while the iEdge-UOB APAC Green REIT index was launched in 2021.

References

  1. ^ Devine, Avis; Sanderford, Andrew; Wang, Chongyu (2024). "Sustainability and Private Equity Real Estate Returns". Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics. 68 (2): 161–187. doi:10.1007/s11146-022-09914-z. SSRN 4126699. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  2. Burgess, Kate (2023-07-10). "Masters of the ESG Universe". The Fifth Estate. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  3. Korteweg, Marianne (2022-03-14). "Expanding the toolbox to cute the carbon". PropertyEU. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  4. "GRESB lanceert vierde survey duurzaamheidsprestaties". woningmarktNL (in Dutch). 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  5. Devine, Avis; Kok, Nils; Wang, Chongyu (2023-08-14). "Sustainability Disclosure and Financial Performance: The Case of Private and Public Real Estate". Journal of Portfolio Management. 50 (5). SSRN 4540425.
  6. Williams, Jonathan (2011-03-31). "APG, PGGM, ATP join on real estate sustainability benchmark". IPE Real Assets. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  7. White, Amanda (2014-04-23). "The power of benchmarking: GRESB comes of age". Top 1000 Funds. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  8. Lowe, Richard (2020-11-16). "GRESB sold by GBCI as investors push for benchmark's independence". IPE Real Assets. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  9. Mair, Vibeka (2020-11-17). "US asset manager helps buy sustainable real estate body GRESB". Responsible Investor. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  10. "GRESB Announces Majority Investment from General Atlantic's BeyondNetZero Fund to Accelerate Global Growth and Impact". www.generalatlantic.com. 2024-04-17.
  11. Campbell, Drew (2022-12-01). "A conversation with Rick Walters, Patrick Kanters and Katherine Sherwin: i3 senior editor Drew Campbell discusses the goals and purpose of the GRESB Foundation". Institutional Investing in Infrastructure. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  12. Bockmann, Rich (2022-01-10). "Real Estate's ESG Referee: We're Not Greenwashing". The Real Deal. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  13. https://live.euronext.com/en/product/indices/NL0012838809-XAMS
  14. https://www.sgxgroup.com/media-centre/20211015-sgx-and-uobam-partner-launch-yield-focused-iedge-uob-apac-green-reit-index


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