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GRESB
GRESB Management is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Summit Partners to acquire GRESB from GBCI. The GRESB team would like to thank GBCI for the support it has provided over the last six years to advance sustainable real assets and for allowing us to take this next step in our journey. This new ownership allows us to establish an independent, non-profit foundation – the GRESB Foundation (or “Foundation”) – to own and govern the GRESB Standards upon which the GRESB Assessments are based. The Foundation Board will be constituted from GRESB Investor Members and will be responsible for reviewing and approving the Standards on an annual basis to ensure they remain investor-led and aligned with responsible investment principles.
“We welcome the establishment of a truly independent GRESB Foundation to govern the GRESB Standards and continue their development as investor needs evolve,” said Patrick Kanters, Managing Director Global Real Assets, APG Asset Management. “This is an important evolution to reinforce that GRESB is a by industry, for industry, mission-driven and investor-led organization. I look forward to serving on the Foundation Board alongside my former GRESB non-executive director colleagues – Deborah Ng, Head of Responsible Investing and Director, Total Fund Management, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Mathieu Elshout Senior Director Private Real Estate, PGGM Investments – and other members.”
The role of the existing Real Estate and Infrastructure Advisory Boards (renamed as Standards Boards) and Benchmark Committees (renamed as Standards Committees) will be formalized under the governance of the Foundation and will continue to oversee the development and maintenance of the Standards.
GRESB BV will continue to be responsible for administering the GRESB Assessments, providing the benchmarks, promoting widespread adoption of the GRESB Standards and supporting investor and participant members. GRESB BV will become a benefit corporation and seek formal B-Corp certification, in order to build accountability for our mission into our legal structure and to protect this accountability over the long term.
Enabled by the capital commitment from our investment partner, we will grow our team in emerging markets and add more capacity to support participants with their reporting efforts. We will further invest in our data science and technology capabilities to uncover new ESG insights essential to sustainable investment decision making and to ensure the quality and reliability of the benchmark results.
With sound governance around the GRESB Standards, clearer accountability around our mission, and fresh investment into the GRESB platform, we are ready to embark on a new era of ESG performance assessment and benchmarking. This work will further standardize ESG data for the capital markets, enhance the management of sustainability risks, opportunities and impacts, and accelerate the growth of responsible investment.
“Thank you to so many of you who have been supporters of GRESB throughout our 10-year journey so far.” said Sander Paul van Tongeren, Co-founder and Managing Director, GRESB. “We’re looking ahead to a new era for GRESB with deeper industry involvement in our governance and greater capacity to deliver the ESG data and insights needed to navigate the transition to sustainable real assets at the speed and the scale that is now required.”
