In the latest release of GRESB’s annual real estate assessment, several companies across Australia have been named “the most sustainable” in several categories.
The result of the real estate winners follows the release of GRESB’s global assessment, where the Oceania region was named the fastest growing region in the global ESG and infrastructure benchmarking exercise.
- Read more about how Australia ranked compared to other countries in this The Fifth Estate article.
According to the assessment, the organisation assesses listed property companies, private property funds, developers and investors that invest directly in real estate in management, performance, and development consistently across the globe.
The assessment noted that the standards had changed this year to focus on pressing issues, maximise the number of changes, minimise possible disruption and follow a new process.
Among the winners are Frasers Property Australia, Lendlease, Dexus and ISPT (more to come)
Lendlease’s Australian Prime Property Fund Retail ranked Australia’s most sustainable unlisted retail fund and crowned a global sector leader in retail.
This is the fifth time in the past six years that the APPFR had ranked first amongst its peer group in the Oceania retail scene.
A spokesperson for the fund said that the result was achieved by increasing collaboration with tenants to reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions through efficiency and capex (capital expenditure) upgrades.
Most notable was an increase of 10 per cent more waste being diverted from landfills in Macarthur Square in Sydney. Tenants were encouraged to separate organic food from regular waste through the management team’s engagements.
The fund’s other property, Sunshine Plaza in Queensland, reduced electricity consumption by 7 per cent in 2022 over the last year through an upgrade of an HVAC plant upgrade and undertaking asset performance tuning to improve energy efficiency.
The company also retained its 5-Star GRESB ranking, putting it in the top 20 per cent of participants.
Anne MacSporran, fund manager of APPF Retail, said: “Buildings that integrate the physical risks of climate change will increasingly contribute to investment performance and provide a competitive advantage. Over the coming year, we’ll be looking to roll out solar across the rooftops of many of our assets to help meet the Fund’s net zero targets by 2025.”
Frasers Property Australia
In a similar vein, Frasers Property Australia has maintained its five-star GRESB rating for the seventh consecutive year.
The company continued to lead in the development (diversified non-listed) category and the standing investments (diversified office/retail non-listed) categories.
The company claimed that maintaining its rating was the pillar of its green finance strategy, with the company being completely financed by sustainability-linked sources across the nation.
The property group said the achievement was led by securing a five-year $340 million syndicated sustainability-linked loan earlier this year, raising the proportion of total sustainability-linked facilities to 100 per cent.
Anthony Boyd, chief executive of Frasers Property Australia, said “The decarbonisation strategies we establish within our development projects and across our Standing Investments business, which are integrated with our broader Group-wide goals, are why we remain an industry leader in the ESG space.
“It’s pleasing to see international assessments like GRESB becoming increasingly competitive, and the incremental improvements Frasers Property Australia continues to enable us to verify our leadership position against established globally-recognised metrics.”
Notably, it was recognised as the regional sector leader in the Industrial category for Oceania, while its Singapore branch was awarded the regional sector leader in Asia’s diversified non-listed retail category.
Dexus
Like other leaders in sustainability, Dexus received multiple 5 Star GRESB ratings across many of its funding entities, with all of its existing funds receiving better ranks this year compared to previous years.
Ramana James, head of sustainability at Dexus said the company’s strong results was due to its strong ESG outcomes.
“Our sustainability aspiration is to unlock the potential of real assets to create lasting positive impact and a more sustainable tomorrow.
“GRESB is an important tool to help us measure our performance at an asset and portfolio level to ensure we deliver impactful sustainability outcomes.”
“These results not only reflect our strong environmental and social performance but also give us confidence that we have the right governance and community stakeholder engagement structures needed to deliver long-term performance.”
ISPT
ISPT was also a strong competitor, receiving the title of both global and regional sector Leader for the third year from the GRESB along with several 5-Star ratings in the latest benchmarks.
The ISPT Core Fund, 50 Lonsdale development and the IRAPT fund received GRESB 5 Stars this year. The result follows a number of achievements, which includes:
- 84 per cent of ISPT’s electricity now renewables
- reduction in ISPT emission by 60 per cent since 2020
- 28 per cent increase in organic waste diverted from landfill
- more $4.8 million invested in social impact activities
Steven Peters, ISPT chief sustainability officer said: “The global GRESB peer recognition and sector leader results are testament to ISPT’s long-standing ESG Strategy that delivers market leading outperformance against industry ESG benchmarks.
“As outlined in our FY2023 ESG Report, we continue to set ambitious goals for our business and are committed to delivering a pathway to Carbon Positive, as our team evolves our strategy towards 2030 and beyond.”
If you were recognised in the GRESB Real Estate Assessments, email us at editorial@thefifthestate.com.au to be featured.