Standard ESG-Questionnaire for Direct Real Estate Vehicles

1. OVERVIEW

In 2023, SSF published an SSF Spotlight publication, titled “Sustainable Real Estate Investments: Insights for Direct Real Estate Investors”,  which provides concrete guidance on how to align investment decisions with specific sustainability objectives and requirements, and how to navigate the diverse landscape of labels, benchmarks, and monitoring tools. Sustainability considerations in real estate investments are an ongoing optimisation process for the entire building portfolio through its life cycle.

Investors are looking for comparable key figures and information on the topic of sustainability. To improve transparency and increase comparability of different investments, SSF publishes the "Standard ESG-Questionnaire for Direct Real Estate Vehicles". This Standard Questionnaire is directed at providers of direct real estate vehicles and investors into direct real estate investments. The questionnaire aims to facilitate the exchange of comparable sustainability information between all market participants.

A Standard Questionnaire offers advantages for everyone: while investors benefit from increased transparency thanks to better comparability of data and information, real estate investment product providers reduce the time and effort required to answer individual questionnaires and at the same time they can improve the transparency towards investors.

The questionnaire covers the following topics:

• ESG Information
  • 1. General Information
  • 2. Company level ESG-Memberships & Signatories
  • 3. ESG Organisation & Resources
  • 4. ESG Strategy / Sustainable Investment Approach of the Portfolio
  • 5. ESG-Rating, Transparency & Reporting of the Portfolio
  • 6. Methodological Parameters of Environmental Indicators
  • 7. Building Certifications
• Environmental Indicators
  • 8. Environmental indicators (based on AMAS self-regulation / KGAST recommendation)

2. DOWNLOAD OF QUESTIONNAIRE

3. STEERING COMMITTEE

SSF plans to regularly update the Standard Questionnaire based on feedback from its network. To this end, we have invited industry and academic experts to form a steering committee to evaluate market feedback and align the questionnaire with current market practice.

We therefore invite market participants to provide feedback and help shape the Standard ESG Questionnaire for Direct Real Estate Vehicles with the aim that it becomes an important transparency tool. If you have any questions or feedback on the questionnaire, please use MS Forms.

SSF would like to thank the industry professionals from the real estate investment companies AXA Investment Managers Schweiz AG, Pensimo, Schroder Investment Management (Switzerland) AG, Swiss Finance & Property Group AG, Swiss Life Asset Management AG, Swiss Prime Site AG, and UBS Fund Management (Switzerland) AG who have joined forces in the "Swiss Sustainable Real Estate Group" (SSREG) to develop a standard questionnaire that provides the most important information on sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, governance) for direct real estate investment products in in the most standardised way possible, making it easier for investors and advisors to compare. The questionnaire was also supported by the indirect investors Maerki Baumann & Co. AG and Zürcher Kantonalbank. The first questionnaire was launched in 2022 and a revised version of it is now published by SSF as the "Standard ESG-Questionnaire for Direct Real Estate Vehicles".