Cromwell EREIT Management Pte. Ltd., the manager (the “Manager”) of Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (“Cromwell European REIT” or “CEREIT”), announced that CEREIT has just received a rating of “AA” (on a scale of AAA-CCC) in the MSCI ESG Ratings assessment, a two-notch upgrade from “BBB” in 2021.
SINGAPORE – The Manager’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Simon Garing, commented, “We are very pleased to be one of only four Singapore REITs to attain a MSCI ESG rating of “AA”. Enhancing CEREIT’s ESG practices and reporting has been a key priority for the Board and the management team since IPO and this is a further validation of the significant advancements that we have made..
CEREIT’s MSCI ESG “AA” ratings upgrade comes on the back of a string of other recent accolades for the Manager, such as achieving an ‘A’ public disclosure rating in the GRESB 2021 assessment, retaining top 10 position for three consecutive years at the Singapore Governance & Transparency Index (SGTI), ranking third in the recently announced Governance Index for Trusts (GIFT) 2022 rankings and winning IR (investor relations) SEA’s magazine award for best use of multimedia in investor communications.
Cromwell’s progressive ESG practices and reporting capabilities also enabled us to formalise CEREIT’s green financing framework earlier this year and enter into a €180-million loan with three sustainability-linked KPIs, including one designed to reward CEREIT for growing its number of green leases, one of the first such targets to be set in Singapore.
Staying at the forefront of environmental practices enables CEREIT to attract and retain quality tenantcustomers at a property level, while an increasing number of debt and equity investors globally factor in MSCI ESG ratings in their investment decisions. CEREIT’s top tenant-customers such as key agencies of the Italian government and two of the most prominent Dutch companies Nationale Nederlanden Nederland B.V. and Essent have set ambitious Net Zero targets aligned with the Paris Agreement and work with Cromwell to continue to improve GHG emissions reductions in their premises. At the same time, the Manager’s bestpractice corporate governance practices ensure that CEREIT continues to be aligned with Unitholders to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns and support the portfolio’s resilience in the long term.”
CEREIT’s sponsor, ASX-listed Cromwell Property Group (“Cromwell”), has retained its leader MSCI ESG “AA” rating for fourth consecutive year. Notably, Cromwell has also been included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Australia Index (“DJSI Australia”) for the first time. The DJSI Australia is composed of sustainability leaders as identified by S&P Global through the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) and represents the top 30% of companies in the S&P/ASX 200 based on long-term economic, environmental, and social criteria.
The MSCI ESG ratings assessment is one of the most widely used ESG ratings system by capital market participants globally, because it aims to measure a company's management of financially relevant ESG risks and opportunities. It uses a rules-based methodology to identify industry leaders and laggards according to their exposure to ESG risks and how well they manage those risks relative to peers.
CEREIT was rated based on a standard version of the Real Estate Management & Services Industry ESG Rating Model, and evaluated against 35 key issues identified under Environment, Social and Governance pillars.
The MSCI ESG Ratings assessment takes place annually. Read more about MSCI click here.
