Real estate investor and manager Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW)(Cromwell) achieved an FY19 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) score of 86/100 , including a governance score of 92/100, for its Australian business, reflecting Cromwell’s commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) best practice.
Cromwell also received a rating of AA (on a scale of AAA-CCC) in the 2019 MSCI ESG Ratings assessment, classifying it as an industry ‘Leader’.
GRESB also awarded the Cromwell Diversified Property Trust, which contains the Australian balance sheet properties, an ‘A ’ level Public Disclosure rating for the third consecutive year .
“Cromwell has been reporting on its ESG performance for more than ten years,” said Cromwell Chief Executive Officer, Paul Weightman.
“It is an area which is very important to us, our securityholders, investors and other stakeholders. Cromwell’s Board of Directors is absolutely committed to meeting good corporate governance and ESG expectations.”
“The Board is proactive with respect to best practice and actively reviews corporate governance developments to determine which corporate governance arrangements and best practices are best for all Cromwell’s securityholders, large and small,” he added.
“It is therefore very pleasing that our efforts have been independently recognised by both GRESB and MSCI,” he concluded.
Cromwell recently appointed two new independent non-executive directors, Ms Lisa Scenna and Ms Tanya Cox to its Board of Directors. All Cromwell’s non-executive directors are independent to ensure they will bring an independent judgement to bear on issues before the Board and are not aligned with the interests of management or a particular securityholder.
About GRESB
Launched in 2009, GRESB has grown to become the leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments covering US$4.5 trillion in real estate and infrastructure value and is used by over 100 institutional investors globally.
GRESB measures and ranks public disclosure practices of participating listed entities on an annual basis. Categories assessed include sustainability governance, sustainability implementation, operational performance and stakeholder engagement practices.
About MSCI
MSCI ESG Research provides in-depth research, ratings and analysis of the environmental, social and governance-related business practices of thousands of companies worldwide. The research is designed to provide critical insights that can help institutional investors identify risks and opportunities that traditional investment research may overlook. The MSCI ESG Ratings are also used in the construction of the MSCI ESG Indexes, produced by MSCI, Inc. For more information, click here.
MSCI ESG Research provides MSCI ESG Ratings on global public and a few private companies on a scale of AAA (leader) to CCC (laggard), according to exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and the ability to manage those risks relative to peers. Learn more about MSCI ESG ratings here.
