Global real estate sustainability benchmark opens 2013 survey for reporting

The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), which ranks property fund managers according to their reporting of sustainability information has opened its 2013 survey for responses. GRESB is backed by a growing number of some of the world’s largest pension funds and all the major real estate industry associations. It added a further five institutional investors in the last year to reach 40 major backers. Joiners in the last 12 months included South Africa’s ZAR1trn (€84bn) Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the largest pension fund in Africa. In 2012, the data gathered by GRESB covered more than 450 real estate companies and funds, a doubling of coverage from the 200 companies and funds when GRESB was launched in 2009. The approximately 50 questions in the survey are based on input from investors about what matters to them when examining sustainability issues. They include responses on management and strategy, policy and disclosure, risks and opportunities,environmental management systems, performance indicators, building certifications, and stakeholder engagement. GRESB’s 2012 report named the top-performing manager in each major region per real estate sector: retail, office, industrial, residential, other and diversified. Nils Kok, GRESB founder and Executive Director said: “Our investor members have made clear that they see sustainability as being about more than environmental factors. They consider the whole spectrum and the result is that the 2013 GRESB Survey is, as in previous years, a comprehensive analysis of sustainability issues.” The survey can be completed online at GRESB’s website and it is open from 1 April until 1 July 2013. The 2013 Survey results will be published in the first week of September. In addition to the publicly available annual report, GRESB members and survey participants receive individual results that detail their respective funds’ and firms’ performance.
Link to GRESB site