The number of European listed property companies reporting sustainability data has increased by 30% to 150 in 2019, out of 158 companies, according to the latest EPRA sBPR Award results.
'Today more than 90% of EPRA listed real estate members have signed up to our sustainability Best Practices Recommendations (sBPR), which truly set the industry standard for ESG data disclosure,' commented EPRA CEO Dominique Moerenhout. 'The appetite for ESG reporting is high and 2019 marks the first year that the Social and Governance Performance Measures are scored as part of the programme.'
Of the 158 assessed, 68 were given awards for demonstrating industry-leading reporting standards, up from 65 in 2018. A total of 52 companies achieved the highest Gold Award, eight received the Silver Award and eight gained a Bronze Award, representing 71% of the total market capitalisation of all companies included in this year’s assessment.
As with previous years, the number of companies not reporting any sustainability data has continued to reduce from 17% in 2018 to 5% in 2019. Eight new companies received an Award for the first time in 2019 and a further eight moved up an Award category with half of these moving from Silver to Gold.
This year, there were also a number of companies which advanced from no Award to an Award in a single year, including: Aedifica, Carmila, BMO Commercial Property Trust (F&C Commercial Property Trust), GMP Property, Hufvudstaden, NSI, Unite Group and Xior Student Housing who all won an Award for the first time.
Matthew Tippett, national director at JLL said: 'This year marks our eighth year supporting EPRA on the sBPR Awards providing advice on the formalisation of the methodology. In this year’s report we have identified key ‘quick wins’ taken from Gold Award winners to be used as a benchmark for companies to improve their score. We hope these will support companies as they continue to increase their overall coverage of their reporting.'
