Tanja Milosevic, Associate Vice President of Sustainability for our North American property company recently participated at Information Management Network’s ESG & Decarbonizing Real Estate Forum. Read on to hear Tanja's insights on some of the forum's key topics, including the intersection of ESG and politics, evolving reporting requirements, and impactful social initiatives.

It’s an election year – as an ESG leader, how are you thinking about/planning for this? Or are you thinking about it at all?

As a leader in sustainability, an election year presents unique challenges and opportunities. Political climates can shift priorities and public perception of ESG initiatives, as well as the availability and funding of incentive programs. During an election year, I focus on several key areas:

• Scenario Planning: Anticipating different political outcomes and their potential impacts on regulatory requirements, funding opportunities, and stakeholder expectations.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Strengthening relationships with stakeholders, to work together to advocate for the importance of sustainable practices regardless of political changes.
• Communication Strategy: Ensuring our messaging is clear and non-partisan, emphasizing the long-term economic and societal benefits of our ESG initiatives.
• Regulatory Compliance: Staying updated on potential regulatory changes and preparing to adapt our strategies accordingly.

By being proactive and adaptable, our focus remains on continuing to drive our sustainability goals forward, regardless of the political landscape.

The term “ESG” has become a political hot-button issue, though much of the work that falls under the general “ESG” banner continues out of necessity. Is Grosvenor reframing “ESG” work in a way that allows the work itself to continue without the political pushback?

Given the politicization of the term “ESG,” we strategically reframed our sustainability efforts to focus on the tangible benefits and necessities of these practices:

• Terminology: While "ESG" remains a part of our internal lexicon, we emphasize terms like "sustainability," "responsible business practices," and "providing environmental, social and commercial benefit" to avoid political connotations.
• Data-Driven Results: Highlighting the financial, operational, and reputational benefits derived from our ESG initiatives, showing clear ROI.
• Case Studies and Success Stories: Sharing concrete examples of how ESG practices and initiatives have led to improved outcomes, such as reduced costs and emissions through energy efficiency or enhanced employee satisfaction through our DEI committee and other social and volunteering programs.
• Collaboration and Transparency: Working closely with industry groups and maintaining transparency to build broader support and understanding of our initiatives and goals.

This approach allows us to continue our vital work without getting mired in political debates.

There is a lot of discussion about greenhouse gas emissions, carbon reduction, and energy efficiency, but we don’t talk nearly enough about water. How are you considering issues of water management, conservation, and resilience as part of your overall ESG strategy?

Water management is an important component of our overall sustainability strategy, and we address it in several ways:

• Tracking and Assessment: Monitoring water consumption to understand and optimize our water usage across all operations.
• Conservation Programs: Implementing programs to reduce water consumption, such as upgrading to water-efficient fixtures and promoting conservation practices at our assets.
• Resilience Planning: Developing strategies to ensure our operations are resilient to water scarcity and climate change impacts, including investing in technology that enhances water security.

By prioritizing water management, we contribute to the sustainability of our operations and our communities.

How are you thinking about various new climate disclosure/reporting requirements already in effect and soon to be implemented, from the temporarily-on-hold new rules from the SEC passed earlier this year, to California’s much more aggressive rules that will have ripple effects far outside the state itself, and even global disclosure requirements like ISSB and SFDR?  

Grosvenor is a private company, but the evolving landscape of climate disclosure and reporting requirements requires a dynamic and proactive approach nonetheless:

• Compliance Framework: Establishing a robust compliance framework to ensure we meet the requirements of legislation applicable in all the markets in which we operate.
• Integrated Reporting: Enhancing our reporting systems to integrate these various requirements, providing comprehensive and consistent data.
• Capacity Building: Investing in training and resources for our team to stay informed about new regulations and best practices.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Communicating transparently with stakeholders about our compliance efforts and the implications of new regulations on our operations.

By staying ahead of regulatory changes, we can ensure compliance and maintain the trust of our stakeholders.  This being said, while efforts are being made to standardize frameworks to avoid overlap and duplication of work, there is still some distance to go.  As sustainability professionals, it can be very easy to spend more time reporting than doing and we’re very mindful of how to stay in compliance while still moving forward toward our emissions reduction goals.

What can organizations do to better support social initiatives (i.e., the “S” in ESG)? What would you like to see more of, whether within your own organization or more broadly?

Providing social benefit is one of our company pillars and to support this, Grosvenor takes several steps:

• Community Engagement: Engaging with local communities to understand their needs and develop projects that address social issues such as childcare space, affordable art space, economic development, and providing social and/or affordable housing.
• Diversity and Inclusion: Promoting diversity and inclusion within Grosvenor through recruitment, retention, and development programs that create equitable opportunities for all employees.  Additionally, Grosvenor’s employee-led DEI Committee, which I chaired in 2022-2023, has been operating since 2018 and currently includes subgroups dedicated to the topics of mental health and wellness, neurodiversity, disability, culture and education, and LGBTQ+, gender and racial equity.
• Employee Well-being: Implementing policies and programs that support employee well-being, such as mental health resources, flexible work arrangements, paid volunteer time, generous parental leave, and comprehensive benefits.
• Transparency and Accountability: Being clear about our social impact focus areas of housing, education and supply chain diversity and regularly reporting on progress.

Within Grosvenor, we strive to lead by example, creating a culture that values social responsibility and actively works to make a positive impact in the communities in which we operate.

This article was originally published on the IMN website.