GRESB
{{Short description|ESG benchmark}}
{{Infobox company
| name = GRESB
| logo = GRESB_organization_logo.png
| logo_caption =
| logo_alt =
| type = Private company
| industry = Environmental economics
| founded = {{Start date and age|2009}}
| founders = Group of pension funds and Maastricht University
| hq_location_city = Amsterdam
| hq_location_country = Netherlands
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people =
| products = Sustainability assessments
| owner = GRESB not-for-profit foundation
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| website = {{URL|https://www.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.{{Cite news |last=Burgess |first=Kate |date=2023-07-10 |title=Masters of the ESG Universe |url=https://thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/climate-change-news/masters-of-the-esg-universe/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=The Fifth Estate}}{{Cite news |last=Korteweg |first=Marianne |date=2022-03-14 |title=Expanding the toolbox to cute the carbon |url=https://propertyeu.info/Nieuws/MAGAZINE-Expanding-the-toolbox-to-cut-the-carbon/aa5b25d6-f397-4bcf-b62a-d1c9763fb724 |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=PropertyEU}}{{Cite news |date=2013-04-02 |title=GRESB lanceert vierde survey duurzaamheidsprestaties |url=https://vastgoedjournaal.nl/news/10640/62/GRESB-lanceert-vierde-survey-duurzaamheidsprestaties/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=woningmarktNL |language=NL}} Academic research has demonstrated that GRESB participation is a predicator of fund-level financial returns.{{Cite journal |last1=Devine |first1=Avis |last2=Kok |first2=Nils |last3=Wang |first3=Chongyu |date=2023-08-14 |title=Sustainability Disclosure and Financial Performance: The Case of Private and Public Real Estate |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4540425 |journal=Journal of Portfolio Management |volume=50 |issue=5|ssrn=4540425 }}
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.{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Jonathan |date=2011-03-31 |title=APG, PGGM, ATP join on real estate sustainability benchmark |url=https://realassets.ipe.com/apg-pggm-atp-join-on-real-estate-sustainability-benchmark/40014.article |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=IPE Real Assets |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=White |first=Amanda |date=2014-04-23 |title=The power of benchmarking: GRESB comes of age |url=https://www.top1000funds.com/2014/04/the-power-of-benchmarking-gresb-comes-of-age/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=Top 1000 Funds |language=en-US}} In 2014 the company was acquired by GBCI and then sold in 2020 through a management buyout in conjunction with Summit Partners.{{Cite web |last=Lowe |first=Richard |date=2020-11-16 |title=GRESB sold by GBCI as investors push for benchmark's independence |url=https://realassets.ipe.com/news/gresb-sold-by-gbci-as-investors-push-for-benchmarks-independence/10048993.article |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=IPE Real Assets |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Mair |first=Vibeka |date=2020-11-17 |title=US asset manager helps buy sustainable real estate body GRESB |url=https://www.responsible-investor.com/us-asset-manager-helps-buy-sustainable-real-estate-body-gresb/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=Responsible Investor}} In 2024, General Atlantic acquired a majority stake in GRESB.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=GRESB Announces Majority Investment from General Atlantic's BeyondNetZero Fund to Accelerate Global Growth and Impact |url=https://www.generalatlantic.com/media-article/gresb-announces-majority-investment-from-general-atlantics-beyondnetzero-fund-to-accelerate-global-growth-and-impact/ |archive-date= |website=www.generalatlantic.com}}
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.{{Cite news |last=Campbell |first=Drew |date=2022-12-01 |title=A conversation with Rick Walters, Patrick Kanters and Katherine Sherwin: i3 senior editor Drew Campbell discusses the goals and purpose of the GRESB Foundation |url=https://irei.com/publications/article/a-conversation-with-rick-walters-patrick-canters-and-katherine-sherwin/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=Institutional Investing in Infrastructure}}
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.{{Cite journal |last1=Devine |first1=Avis |title=Sustainability and Private Equity Real Estate Returns |journal=Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4126699 |access-date=2024-03-21 |last2=Sanderford |first2=Andrew |last3=Wang |first3=Chongyu |volume=68 |pages=161–187 |year=2024|issue=2 |doi=10.1007/s11146-022-09914-z |ssrn=4126699 |url-access=subscription }} 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.{{Cite web |last=Bockmann |first=Rich |date=2022-01-10 |title=Real Estate's ESG Referee: We're Not Greenwashing |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/01/10/whos-judging-real-estates-environmentalism-the-industry-itself/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=The Real Deal |language=en}}
Indices
The GRESB Global Sustainable Index was launched in 2006,https://live.euronext.com/en/product/indices/NL0012838809-XAMS while the iEdge-UOB APAC Green REIT index was launched in 2021.https://www.sgxgroup.com/media-centre/20211015-sgx-and-uobam-partner-launch-yield-focused-iedge-uob-apac-green-reit-index
References
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