For the seventh consecutive year, property companies and real estate funds based in Australia and New Zealand outperformed all other regions in GRESB’s 2017 Real Estate Assessment.
A record 850 property companies and real estate funds completed the assessment, representing 77,000 assets and over USD$3.7trn in value.
The 66 Australian and New Zealand funds that participated in the assessment had an average score of 73, well above the global average of 63 – although the global average was up 3 points from 2016.
“Investor demand for transparency will further enhance how ESG-related risks are managed by Australian and New Zealand property companies and fund managers, empowering them to adopt leading sustainability practices,” said Ruben Langbroek, head of Asia Pacific at GRESB.
“Looking at the results, the region is already performing at a high standard. We see that 94% of regional companies and funds that reported to GRESB are already disclosing their sustainability performance to stakeholders. There is a strong focus on social and governance aspects; 97% have a policy on diversity and equal opportunities, 94% include sustainability-specific requirements in their lease contracts with tenants, while 89% have a community engagement program in place.”
In terms of environmental performance, the 66 Australian and New Zealand funds slashed their carbon dioxide emissions by 96,520 tonnes throughout the year. This is equivalent to the average emissions of 20,135 passenger cars, or 4.7% of their overall emissions.
The Australian and New Zealand funds also had data coverage for energy monitoring of 67.1% of their properties. This is significantly higher than the 59.7% that was registered globally.
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