Global investment giant CBRE Global Investors has inked a partnership with property sustainability specialists BRE to implement a key buildings usage benchmark from BREEAM across its entire EMEA portfolio over the next five years.
'Sustainability is a fundamental part of CBRE Global Investors business strategy,' said Aleksandra Njagulj, head of global environmental, social and governance (ESG) at CBRE GI.
'We understand the significant impact the built environment has on the global environment and believe that we have a responsibility to incorporate and demonstrate ESG best practices in all of our corporate and investment management activities. The greatest sustainability impact is achieved through responsible portfolio management of standing assets.'
Under the agreement, CBRE GI will endeavour to apply BREEAM In-Use International 2015 (BIU) to its assets throughout the region, by issuing joint requests for proposals to the BREEAM Assessor network alongside BRE.
According to the firm, this new approach allows the huge volume of assessments to be managed more quickly and efficiently via a panel of assessors.
The BREEAM In-Use scheme provides a science-based sustainable certification that allows CBRE GI to measure, manage, track and enhance the operation of each asset.
'For us, the BREEAM In-Use certification is not a tick-box exercise to create statistics for corporate responsibility reporting,' Njagulj added. 'Expanding the BREEAM In-Use portfolio approach across our entire EMEA portfolio, comprising more than 360 assets, over five years initial programme, marks a market-leading step forward in sustainable asset management.'
'We have been discussing the idea of a new RFP approach for large portfolio BREEAM projects for some time now and are very proud that CBRE GI will join us on this full implementation,' said James Fisher, head of real assets for BREEAM at BRE.
