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Verdani Clients Take the Lead on the 2021 GRESB Assessment

Verdani Partners is excited to share the outstanding performance of our clients on the 2021 GRESB Real Estate Assessment, the leading ESG benchmark for real estate investments around the world!





ESG is Evolving Rapidly


Many companies with ESG programs are outperforming the market. As a result, investors continue to drive ESG disclosures in the Real Estate Sector to protect and enhance shareholder value. ESG is a proxy for management quality, and it is becoming table stakes for investment decisions.


Daniele Horton, Verdani’s Founder and CEO, states: “As ESG evolves, participating in respected international benchmarks like the GRESB assessment gives valuable feedback for our ESG strategy and action plans, while offering a powerful platform to validate and provide credibility for ESG performance. The real estate industry needs to be a key player in the global efforts to cut global carbon emissions. To limit temperature-rise to 1.5 degrees, the next 10 years will be critical. Companies need to take bold actions to decarbonize the building sector. I commend GRESB’s efforts to shift its scoring to focus 70% on performance and to help create ESG metrics to drive Real Estate portfolios to become more efficient, healthy, resilient and sustainable. We are very proud of our client's GRESB performance and their efforts to advance ESG in their portfolios and to be part of the solution for our most pressing global challenges.”



 

Highlights


In 2021, we submitted 32 GRESB assessments on behalf of 11 clients’ national and international real estate portfolios with over 900 million square feet and $370 billion in assets under management. Highlights include:

  • 3 clients (4 submissions) placed 1st in the Benchmark, Management and Performance: CommonWealth Partners, PGIM Real Estate and GID Investment Vehicle

  • 3 clients placed 2nd in their peer group in the Management & Performance Ranking: ARA, The Howard Hughes Corporation, and Jamestown LP

  • 3 Americas Regional Sector Leaders: CommonWealth Partners (office) and GID Investment Vehicle (residential / multi-family), Jamestown LP (office / retail)

  • 9 submissions ranked in the top 3 of their peer groups

  • 16 submissions ranked in the top 5 of their peer groups


GRESB Star Ratings - Standing Investments and Development

  • (10) 5 Star Ratings: ARA, CommonWealth Partners, Jamestown LP, Parkway, PGIM Real Estate and GID Investment Vehicle

  • (5) 4 Star Ratings: Clarion Partners, The Howard Hughes Corporation, and PGIM Real Estate


 


Client Spotlights for the Standing Investments Benchmark



CommonWealth Partners

  • 1st in U.S. Office Corporate High-Rise two years in a row (2020 and 2021)

  • Office Overall Regional Sector Leader

  • 5 Star Rating (6 years in a row)


GID

  • 1st in U.S. Residential Multi-Family Core two years in a row (2020 and 2021) for GID Investment Vehicle

  • Residential Overall Regional Sector Leader

  • Residential Regional Sector Leader

  • 5 Star Rating (3 years in a row)


Jamestown LP

  • Office/Retail Overall Regional Sector Leader

  • Office/Retail Regional Sector Leader

  • 5 Star Rating


ARA

  • 2nd in U.S. Diversified Core, up from 19th place in 2020

  • 5 Star Rating

  • 14% improvement in their score from 2020 to 2021


LMC

  • 40% improvement in their overall score in U.S. Residential Multi-Family Non-Listed from 2020 to 2021


The Howard Hughes Corporation

  • 4 Star Rating

  • 23% improvement since 2018

PGIM Real Estate

  • 1st place in the U.S. Diversified Value-added peer group (U.S. Value-Add Fund)

  • (4) 5 Star submissions across U.S. and Asia diversified, residential multi-family, high-rise office and retail peer groups (U.S. Core Fund, U.S. Impact Fund, Separate Client Account, and Goldridge)

  • (3) 4 Star submissions across U.S. and Western Europe diversified and corporate office peer groups (U.S. Core Plus Fund, U.S. Value-Add Fund, and European Value-Add Fund)

  • 50% of submissions increased by one or more star ratings from 2020

  • 13/14 submissions increased Management & Performance scores from 2020

  • 6/8 submissions increased Management & Development scores from 2020

  • 20% single year improvement in overall Management & Performance score, U.S. Senior Homes peer group

  • 24% single year improvement in overall Management & Performance score, Western Europe Diversified peer group


Clarion Partners

  • 4th and 16% improvement in U.S. Industrial Distribution Warehouse Core Tenant

  • 4 Star Rating on U.S. Diversified Core

  • 5% improvement in their score


 

Congratulations for Excellent Performance



We are proud of the exceptional performance of our national and international clients, who include American Realty Advisors, Clarion Partners, CommonWealth Partners, GID, The Howard Hughes Corporation, Jamestown LP, LMC, Mid-America Apartment Communities, Parkway and PGIM Real Estate.

Their high scores on this year’s assessment reveal that our clients are both competitive with their peers and that each year they are measurably improving the sustainability performance of their real estate portfolios. With rigorous data validation processes, objective scoring and peer benchmarking, GRESB is a solid benchmark for us to track progress for our clients, in addition to providing valuable information for investors and participants to guide their investment, engagement and decision-making processes.


“We are honored to work with these leading real estate portfolios and be able to share our tools, resources and expertise to help them implement ESG programs faster and cost effectively” says Paulynn Cue, Verdani’s Chief Communications Officer.


 


About GRESB

GRESB is a mission-driven and industry-led organization providing standardized and validated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data to financial markets. Established in 2009, GRESB has become the leading ESG benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments across the world, used by 140+ institutional and more than 2,200 fund managers, companies and asset operators to improve decision-making.


The Assessment is shaped by what investors and the industry consider to be material issues in the sustainability performance of real estate investments. The methodology is consistent across regions, investment vehicles and property types, while aligning with international reporting frameworks.

In 2021, more than 1,500 property companies, REITs, funds and developers participated in the Real Estate Assessment, representing $6.4 trillion in assets under management. The Assessment covers nearly 117,000 assets across 66 countries.

Learn more at www.GRESB.com


About Verdani

Verdani Partners is a leading full-service consulting firm with over 20 years of experience in sustainability and ESG for real estate. Verdani currently manages ESG programs for 13 national and international real estate firms with over 4,000 properties across 900 million SF of diversified real estate portfolios, representing over $400 billion AUM.


Serving as an owners’ representative for ESG management, Verdani provides clients with a team of sustainability experts that work within their organizations to develop and manage customized programs on an ongoing basis. Verdani’s clients leverage the team of professionals, state-of-the-art tools and resources, and industry connections to advance their portfolios, minimize risk and create long-term value.


Verdani is a GRESB Premier Partner and member of the GRESB Benchmarking Committee that manages GRESB reporting. Verdani also produces annual sustainability reports for some of the nation’s top real estate firms. The certification experts at Verdani oversee a wide range of certification systems for clients, such as Fitwel, LEED, ENERGY STAR, USGBC’s ARC Platform, WELL, Green Globes, BREEAM, IREM and more. Verdani’s corporate ESG, green building certifications, technical services, communications department and educational programs bring an impressive breadth of expertise to each portfolio and project.



Contact

Paulynn Cue, Chief Communications Officer / Communications and Business Development

213-281-5990

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