The 2016 GRESB study reports that Australia’s property market remains the world’s most sustainable, despite increasing competition from other markets. The GRESB is the leading data provider for environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of real assets. For the 2016 report, a record 759 real estate companies and funds, representing more than 66,000 assets and AUD $3.7 trillion in gross asset value were assessed by GRESB.
Describing Australia’s performance as an “unbroken streak of global leadership”, the 2016 report reveals that the average GRESB score of companies and funds in the Australia/NZ region improved from 70 in 2015 to 74 in 2016 against the global average of 60.
GRESB’s Head of Asia Pacific, Ruben Langbroek observes that Australia’s leadership reflects a long-term commitment to sustainability and a “pervasive spirit of collaboration and knowledge sharing”. He adds that Australia’s property industry regards superior sustainability as a proxy for quality.
The report also reveals that companies reporting to GRESB for seven consecutive years outperformed their peers in environmental, social and governance (ESG) by an average of 12 points.
Click here for a snapshot of the report
GRESB named four sector leaders for Australia/NZ: Retail: Lendlease Sub-Regional Retail Fund – Lendlease; Office – Listed: DEXUS Office Trust; Office – Private: Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial – Lendlease; and Diversified – Retail/Office: Stockland.
Lendlease was also named ‘global leader’, topping the list of 759 companies and funds that were assessed for the study.
The Australia/NZ region was able to decrease its energy consumption by two per cent over the reporting period, equivalent to the energy required to power 3,037 homes for a year. The region’s four per cent reduction in carbon emissions saved almost 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the amount generated by almost 286,000 passenger vehicles over an entire year.
