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2022

Asset

Assessment

Contents

Disclaimer: 2022 GRESB Infrastructure Fund & Asset Assessment Pre-Release

The information in this document has been provided in good faith and on an “as is” basis. While we do not anticipate major changes, we reserve the right to make modifications prior to the official start of the 2022 reporting period on April 1 and the official release of the 2022 Infrastructure Fund and Asset Assessments. We will publicly announce any such modifications.

Introduction

About GRESB

Mission-driven and investor-led, GRESB is the environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for real assets. We work in collaboration with the industry to provide standardized and validated ESG data to the capital markets. The 2021 Real Estate benchmark covers more than 1,500 property companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), funds, and developers. Our coverage for Infrastructure is more than 700 infrastructure funds and assets. Combined, GRESB represents USD 6.4 trillion AUM. More than 140 institutional investors, with over USD 47 trillion AUM, use GRESB data to monitor their investments, engage with their managers, and make decisions that lead to a more sustainable real asset industry.

For more information, visit gresb.com. Follow GRESB on LinkedIn or @GRESB on Twitter.

2022 Assessments Structure

For 2022, the structure of the Infrastructure Assessments has been kept relatively stable with few changes. We will continue to review our move to shift the emphasis and scoring of the assessment from management and transparency to performance.

Grace Period

GRESB offers first-time participants the option to not disclose their Assessment results to their investors. This first year "Grace Period" allows companies and funds a year to familiarize themselves with the GRESB reporting and assessment process without externally disclosing their results to GRESB Investor Members.

While Grace Period participant names are disclosed to GRESB Investor Members, Investor Members are not able to request access to Grace Period participant results.

First-time participants wishing to opt for the Grace Period can select the option from the settings section in the Assessment Portal.

Who can see my data?

Data collected through the GRESB Infrastructure Fund and Asset Assessments is only disclosed to the participants themselves and:

All data provided to GRESB is strictly confidential and will only be disclosed to participants’ investors, with their explicit consent.

Timeline & Process

The GRESB Infrastructure Fund and Asset Assessments will be available in the GRESB Portal on April 1, 2022. The submission deadline is July 1, 2022, providing participants with a three-month window to complete the Assessment. This is a fixed deadline and GRESB will not accept submissions received after this date. GRESB validates and analyzes all participants’ Assessment submissions.

In 2020 we introduced a Review Period in the Assessment cycle to further strengthen the reliability of our Assessments and benchmark results. We will provide this process again in 2022, as we did in 2021, starting on September 1, when preliminary individual GRESB results will be made available to all participants. The Review Period will run for one month. During the Review Period, participants will be able to submit a review request to GRESB using a dedicated form. The final results will be launched to both participants and Investor Members on October 1. Public Results events and other results outputs will be scheduled in October and November.

Response Check service

A Response Check is a high-level check of a participant’s submission. The Response Check is carried out by GRESB’s third party validation provider SRI and features a careful review of your Assessment response followed by a 1-hour discussion call. It can be particularly useful for first time participants.

The Response Check does not exclude the participant from any element of the validation process, nor does it guarantee a better GRESB score. It is intended to ensure that no important details have been overlooked in the submission and provides the opportunity to ask for additional guidance and clarification on the GRESB Assessment indicators. The Response Check helps reduce errors that may adversely impact Assessment results and identifies inconsistent responses and incorrect answer formats.

The Response Check is available for request from April 1 to June 1, 2022 subject to resource availability. We strongly encourage participants to place their request as early as possible. The Response Check can be requested before the Assessment has been completed, but the scope of the review will be limited to the information filled in at the time of the request.

Guidance & Support

The 2022 Infrastructure Fund and Asset Assessments will be accompanied by indicator-specific guidance that explains:

The written Reference Guide will be published on the GRESB website during the first week of March 2022. Starting April 1, 2022, guidance is also available in the GRESB Portal through pop-up fields next to each indicator. The GRESB customer support service is open year round.

2022 Infrastructure GRESB Asset Assessment Changes

Given the ongoing process to establish the GRESB Foundation and the work to develop a five year Roadmap for GRESB, changes to the Asset Assessment for 2022 are limited in scope. This ensures stability for the assessment in the short term while more strategic developments and improvements are prioritized and addressed going forward as part of the development of the Roadmap. Next year, the GRESB Foundation will determine key industry priorities, informed through extensive consultation with members and the GRESB team. This will include identification of initiatives, priorities, and new topics to be introduced, starting in 2023 and going forward over the five year period of the Roadmap. The changes in the Management and Performance Component have been limited to small amendments to indicators to provide respondents with more appropriate reporting options. These changes are outlined and detailed below.

Entity & Reporting Characteristics

Indicator Level Changes

EC2

Nature of ownership - increased information on identification

Description: Added Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) as a new optional field in EC2. The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a unique global identifier for legal entities participating in financial transactions. Also known as an LEI code or LEI number, its purpose is to help identify legal entities on a globally accessible database.

Rationale for change: The LEI provides a standardized way of identifying listed and non-listed assets using a globally recognized identification system.While the ISIN only applies to listed entities and can be multiples, entities can only apply for a singular LEI.

Impact of change: Small increase in reporting burden to provide meaningful information to investors.

Management Component

Indicator Level Changes

LE2

ESG leadership commitments - New commitment options

Description: Added the following environmental and social specific commitments to the indicator:

Rationale for change: This allows entities that have made a commitment to these initiatives to report them to investors and better reflects the latest ESG commitments and initiatives

Impact of change: Small increase in reporting burden to provide meaningful information to investors.

LE6

Personnel ESG performance targets - ESG and/or climate-related senior decision maker

Description: Renamed personnel “C-suite level staff” to “C-suite level staff/Senior management”.

Rationale for change: Better comprehension.

Impact of change: No impact on reporting burden.

RM1

Management systems - Reformulate

Description: The indicator title “Is the entity's management system accredited to, or aligned with, ESG-related management standards?” has been changed to “Does the entity have a management system accredited to, or aligned with, ESG-related management standards?”

Rationale for change: This allows a better understanding of the indicator by participants.

Impact of change: Small increase in comprehension. No impact on reporting burden.

RM2.1

Environmental risk assessments - Restructured for simpler validation

Description: The options that can be selected as elements of a risk assessment have been changed and are now listed as radio buttons (i.e., an entity can only select one instead of multiple).

Rationale for change: This change simplifies the validation of the supporting evidence and aligns with the ISO 31000 Risk Management standard.

Impact of change: No change in reporting burden.

SE2

Supply chain engagement programme - Remove option

Description: Removed the answer option “Operators”.

Rationale for change: “Operators” was removed as an option already exists to cover this group and therefore it could be subject to double counting alongside the other options.

Impact of change: Better reporting. Slight impact on reporting burden.

Performance Component

Indicator Level Changes

WT2

Water discharge - Non-compliance

Description: The metric Non-compliance is now mandatory.

Rationale for change: Important data to consider especially in light of reports related to illegal water discharges.

Impact of change: Better data for investors and fund managers when analyzing ESG risks.

Entity & Reporting Characteristics

Entity Characteristics

2021 Indicator

Reporting Characteristics

2021 Indicator

Not scored

Management: Leadership

Leadership

2021 Indicator

1.44 points , G

Not scored , G

Objectives

2021 Indicator

2.84 points , G

1.44 points , G

1.44 points , G

2.84 points , G

Management: Policies

Policies

2021 Indicator

1.44 points , E

1.44 points , S

1.44 points , G

Management: Reporting

Reporting

2021 Indicator

2.84 points , G

1.44 points , G

Not scored , G

Management: Risk Management

Risk Management

2021 Indicator

2.84 points , G

Risk Assessments

2021 Indicator

2.84 points , E

2.84 points , S

2.84 points , G

Climate-related Risk Management

2021 Indicator

Not scored , G

Not scored , G

Not scored , G

Not scored , G

Not scored , G

ESG Monitoring

2021 Indicator

1.44 points , E

1.44 points , S

1.44 points

Management: Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder Engagement

2021 Indicator

2.84 points , S

1.44 points , S

1.44 points , S

Not scored , S

Performance: Implementation

Implementation

2021 Indicator

Not scored , E

Not scored , S

Not scored , G

Performance: Output & Impact

Output & Impact

2021 Indicator

Not scored

Performance: Energy

Energy

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , E

Performance: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , E

Performance: Air Pollution

Air Pollution

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , E

Performance: Water

Water

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , E

Determined by materiality , E

Performance: Waste

Waste

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , E

Performance: Biodiversity & Habitat

Biodiversity & Habitat

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , E

Performance: Health & Safety

Health & Safety

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , S

Determined by materiality , S

Determined by materiality , S

Determined by materiality , S

Performance: Employees

Employees

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , S

Determined by materiality , S

Performance: Customers

Customers

2021 Indicator

Determined by materiality , S

Performance: Certifications & Awards

Certifications and Awards

2021 Indicator

2.88 points , G

Not scored , G