Grosvenor Europe has increased its Green Star rating to 5 in the 2021 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) reporting. As part of the corporate rankings, Grosvenor Europe scored 88 and 92 points for its investment and development activity respectively, placing it in the top five companies of its peer group.

We achieved full marks in the Leadership, Policies and Reporting aspects of the GRESB assessment, reflecting our longstanding approach to delivering social benefit. In 2020, we released our Delivering Social Benefit strategy and our Science Based Targets initiative-approved net zero carbon pathway, Our Goal Net Zero, which aims to halve our total carbon emissions by 2030.

We also achieved top scores for Data Monitoring & Review and Targets following a detailed process review which resulted in significant improvements to our consumption data collection and analysis. 

Across our reporting entities, the Grosvenor London Office Fund was awarded the highest rating of 5 Green Stars, scoring 95/100 and leading its peer group. It was recognised for its environmental management system, full data coverage and outstanding environmental performance across energy, carbon emissions, water, and waste.

Four other entities secured 4 Green Stars, including our residential development joint venture in Madrid, which led its peer group with a score of 86/100, five points ahead of the 2020 rating.  This was due to the portfolio’s strong ESG requirements, including minimum BREEAM Very Good ratings for development projects and measures to manage the supply chain, material selection, energy efficiency and waste management.

Simon Evans, Head of Construction and Sustainability, Grosvenor Europe, comments:

“We are very proud of our GRESB results this year, which have improved across the board at a time where ESG standards are rightly becoming more advanced. These results reflect our commitment to taking tangible actions to progress our social and environmental goals.

“In the past year we launched our ambitious net zero pathway to halve our carbon emissions by 2030, and implemented new processes to develop and manage our assets, including using environmentally friendly materials such as locally sourced timber in construction, and trialling new technology from NASA to monitor and reduce energy consumption.

“While we have demonstrated industry leadership in several areas, GRESB reporting provides us with insights on where we can focus our efforts to secure further improvements and have more significant impact on our social benefit targets.”

GRESB assesses the ESG performance of real estate and infrastructure companies, portfolios, and assets worldwide. Since inception in 2009, GRESB has established itself as a roadmap to high sustainability performance for the real estate sector.