October 18, 2021

Manulife Investment Management’s GRESB Assessment highlight strength of its sustainability integration for real estate

Global real estate portfolio ranks first among its peer group for sustainability leadership

Manulife Investment Management today announced the results of its 2021 GRESB Assessments for real estate. The GRESB Assessments benchmark the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance of real estate, companies, and assets, providing investors with standardized data to help evaluate complex sustainability issues. Manulife Investment Management’s 2021 assessment saw above average scores for the firm’s global real estate portfolio and was also recognized as a GRESB Sector Leader1 ranking first among its peer group in the ‘diversified - office/industrial’ in the Americas category.

“We are pleased with the results of the 2021 GRESB Assessment as we are in an excellent position with above average score for real estate,” said Christoph Schumacher, head of real assets, Manulife Investment Management. “Sustainable management will continue to be essential and is an expectation of investors in real assets. Responsible stewardship is imperative to protecting and growing the value of our assets and the GRESB ESG Benchmark helps us maintain and improve outcomes and demonstrate our commitment to ESG integration to clients."

In 2021, more than 1,520 real estate entities, representing US$5.7 trillion in assets were covered by the GRESB Real Estate Assessment and ESG Benchmark.

“We are proud to be named a GRESB Sector Leader in a year when global real estate participation in the assessments has increased by 24%,” said Regan Smith, head of real estate sustainability, Manulife Investment Management. “This is an important achievement for us as we work to transition to a low carbon economy. It’s also great to see increased participation from our peers as improved engagement with a standardized benchmark demonstrates the industry’s desire to achieve more ESG data transparency.”

Real Estate Assessment

Manulife Investment Management was among 1,520 property companies, REITs, funds, and developers that participated in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment, representing US$5.7 trillion of assets under management. The GRESB ESG Benchmark covers nearly 117,000 assets globally reported at the asset level. Manulife Investment Management’s real estate portfolio earned a GRESB score of 88 out of a possible 100 points for both management and performance and a GRESB Green Star.  The strength of the firm’s GRESB Assessment for real estate this year can be partially attributed to the following activities: usage reductions across all utilities (energy, water, waste) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, an increase in energy and GHG data coverage for industrial, retail and residential portfolios, maintaining high portfolio green building certification rates and increased number of properties tracking on ENERGY STAR and a portfolio level physical climate risk and resilience assessment conducted internally.

 

1. GRESB Sector Leaders are the best performers by sector and region from across the GRESB Assessments. The entity with the top score, as well as the entities with a score within 1 point of the top score in a category are recognized as Sector Leaders.

Manulife media contact

Elizabeth Bartlett
Manulife
E Elizabeth_Bartlett@manulife.com
857 210 2286