French retail property REIT Altarea Cogedim has emerged as the European leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in the 2016 GRESB Real Estate, Developer and Debt Assessments.
Steen & Strøm - the Nordic arm of Klépierre, the largest French retail property REIT - is ranked second, followed by Paris-listed office REIT Cegereal.
The seventh annual GRESB report does not publish the actual performance figures for companies, but it does note that the European property sector - led by the listed companies - is increasing its engagement with (ESG) performance metrics, and has outperformed the global average in several areas.
This year's European GRESB report illustrates continued growth in GRESB participation with 390 companies and funds providing information about ESG performance – a growth of 2.6% compared to 2015. Multi-year participants demonstrate steady year-over-year improvements in overall ESG scores, and the average European GRESB score now stands at 60, outperforming the global average on management – 85 (global average is 83) and policy and disclosure – 79 (global average is 75). UK companies registered one of the highest increases in scores – by 9%, from 58 in 2015 to 63 in 2016.
But, despite Europe's good showing, Australian entities outperformed all other regions with an average score of 74, which is 14 points above the global average.
'The 2016 GRESB data shows that overall performance of European companies and funds is underpinned by increasing engagement from senior leaders, more formal policy commitments, new environmental management systems and increasingly sophisticated information systems. For example, this year's benchmark includes asset-level operational performance data for more than 22,000 individual buildings worldwide, often flowing directly to GRESB from third-party tools,' said Sander Paul van Tongeren, head of Europe at GRESB.
Global assessment
This is the seventh year that GRESB has published its assessments. A record 759 real estate companies and funds participated in the 2016 assessment, representing more than 66,000 assets across 63 countries, with a value of $2.8 tln. Entities reporting to GRESB for seven consecutive years outperform their peers by an average of 12 points across all aspects of ESG. As a result, the overall GRESB score increased by 11% to 60. In 2016, 18 debt funds participated in the GRESB Debt Assessment, an increase of 80%. The average GRESB Debt score increased by 6% to 48.
The new data shows that real estate companies and funds are improving across all aspects of ESG performance, including a 1.2% reduction in energy consumption, 2% reduction in GHG emissions and close to 1% reduction in water use and are putting greater focus on occupant health and wellbeing.
Listed real estate outperformed private equity entities by 6%, GRESB said.
For more, see Seventh GRESB sustainability survey shows ESG reporting is the new normal and 2016 GRESB Snapshot - Europe
