Bouwinvest’s Dutch real estate funds retain top GRESB sustainability rating

All five of Bouwinvest’s Dutch real estate investment funds have received the highest possible rating awarded by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, or GRESB, for the second year in a row in 2022. Bouwinvest received the five-star GRESB ratings for all five vehicles for the first time in 2021, ranking them among the top 20 percent of best-performing funds in the world in the field of sustainability.

 The benchmark places Bouwinvest’s Residential Fund, Healthcare Fund and Hotel Fund among the top two best-performing funds compared to their international peers. Bouwinvest’s Office Fund (ranked third globally), and its Retail Fund (in sixth position worldwide), also turned in a good performance last year.

In 2017 Bouwinvest set itself the goal to achieve a minimum four-star ranking for all its Dutch funds by 2020. Obtaining a five-star ranking for the Residential, Retail, Hotel, Office and Healthcare funds in 2022 for the second consecutive year is in line with the more ambitious target set thereafter to improve on that result. The score is determined, among other things, by the quality of Bouwinvest’s sustainability policy and underlying strategy (Management Module), in combination with the quality of the data and how efficiently it is used for the sustainability policy and the impact it has on it (Performance Module).

The greatest challenge facing optimisation is the collection of external data which can be difficult to influence. For instance, data related to energy consumption is not always comparable as tenants may not want to disclose this information and/or occupancy rates vary annually. The GRESB rating in the Performance Module can therefore fluctuate as a result. Maintaining the top spot for all funds is all the more impressive given the economic developments in the relevant real estate sectors. It is nevertheless important to continue involving tenants as much as possible in Bouwinvest’s sustainability goals. The company is also looking at new leasing concepts for its Retail Fund where a turnkey buildout is agreed with the tenant and the landlord owns the installations. That should make it easier to collect data on energy consumption.

Bouwinvest’s latest GRESB ratings also clearly demonstrate how seriously it is taking its commitment to sustainability. Founded in 2009 GRESB has become an international benchmark for sustainability and corporate social responsibility and more than 1,500 real estate investors and over 115,000 properties are assessed every year on their sustainability performance. Bouwinvest has taken part in GRESB since its inception in line with its mission to create real value for life and to generate both social and financial returns.