Northern Trust Asset Management has teamed up with GRESB to launch a sustainable real estate index and a Dutch-pooled fund tracking the index.
The fund is designed to provide passive investors with exposure to the performance of listed real estate companies in developed markets while integrating responsible investment criteria.
The index is being described as an 鈥渋ndustry first鈥�.
The asset manager said it was developed 鈥渋n response to demand for a passive approach to real estate investing incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors鈥�.
It uses data from GRESB, an organisation based in Netherlands that assesses the ESG performance of real estate portfolios and infrastructure assets.
Sander Paul van Tongeren, managing director of GRESB, said: 鈥淭he environmental performance of buildings has been shown to have a clear link with the underlying financial performance of the assets, and with the risk/return profile of property companies or investment funds ultimately owning the assets.鈥�
He added: 鈥淭his new fund will, uniquely, allow investors to passively gain exposure to companies that are highly transparent about their ESG performance and reducing environmental and social impact while also incorporating broad geographic and sector diversification.鈥�
He also said the use of GRESB鈥檚 ESG data 鈥渇urther institutionalises the important role of environmental, social and governance information in the financial market鈥�.
GRESB launched a real estate sustainability and one for .
It released the findings of its in October last year.
