Celebrating Industry Recognition & Positioning for the Future

The Green Cities Company is a leader in the investment and creation of highly sustainable residential properties, recognizing where the marketplace is heading and coupling that with our innovative, data driven investment analytics.  Our unique approach, grounded in our Green Cities Index, seeks to improve the environmental footprint of our properties, the health and wellness of our tenants, and the inclusivity of our communities; all desirable marketplace standards that tenants prefer. Our approach mitigates risk and generates value for investors while delivering positive benefits to our residents. We are excited to share that Green Cities’ innovative, forward leaning strategies are being recognized as leading in our industry.

Green Cities’ GRESB Score Among Top in the Industry

Since the beginning of our GRESB reporting in 2015, Green Cities has consistently demonstrated excellence in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark‘s (GRESB)¹ annual survey and this year’s report, continues with those results. In the 2024 Benchmark Report, Green Cities Fund IV earned a prestigious 4-star rating and notably:

• Ranked 2nd among 39 U.S. multifamily value-add funds
• Scored 23.2% higher than last year’s score, demonstrating the success of our value-driving innovations and value-add improvements across our Fund IV portfolio in 2023

Additional Green Cities Fund IV ESG Highlights in GRESB

• Building Certifications Excellence: Achieved the maximum score of 10.5 points for building certifications, significantly surpassing the average of 4.37 points
• Strong Stakeholder Engagement: Scored 9.75 out of 10 in corporate-level stakeholder engagement, reflecting our commitment to maintaining open communication and collaboration
• Leadership & Reporting: Received a perfect score for leadership, policies, and reporting, highlighting our dedication to transparent and effective governance
• Data Monitoring Focus: Earned maximum points for data monitoring and review, demonstrating our strong emphasis on data-driven decision-making throughout the reporting year
• Community Engagement: Achieved full marks for property-level community engagement, showcasing our ongoing efforts to foster positive community relationships
• Energy Efficiency Initiatives: Conducted retro-commissioning, technical audits, and implemented energy conservation measures (ECMs) across the portfolio to boost energy efficiency
• Enhanced Waste Management: Rolled out an innovative composting program with demi, a local MWOB and completed waste audits across the portfolio. These audits led to updated waste procedures, improved signage, state-specific recycling compliance, and new initiatives like battery recycling and improved composting programs
• Certifications Progress: Initiated the process of certifying 6 buildings under the LEED O+M standard, certified 6 properties with Fitwel², and renewed Fitwel Viral certification at 4 properties
• Environmental Management Alignment: Realigned our environmental management system (EMS) to meet ISO 14001 standards, ensuring consistency with global best practices

These achievements are just a few of the key highlights from our 2024 GRESB report.

Green Cities’ Best Places to Work

Green Cities’ forward leaning practices not only extend to our portfolio of properties, but also across our firm as well. Our distinct culture is embedded in the values of innovation, institutional rigor, success to be proud of and sustainability and human focus.  These values anchor our efforts in developing quant and AI/machine learning models to determine where, when, and at what price to invest as well as creating processes and procedures to attract and foster top-talent.

In recognition of this, we’re proud to announce that The Green Cities Company has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Private Equity for 2024 by Mergers & Acquisition³. This award celebrates firms that excel in leadership and innovation in workplace culture, policies, and operations. A standout aspect of our submission is our performance equity management process, which fosters growth and builds team members’ competencies.

We’re incredibly proud of these milestones, which affirm our leadership in ESG and innovation. At both the property and corporate levels, we’re constantly aspiring to move to where the future of our industry is evolving to create greater value and opportunity for our investors.

For more details on our environmental and social strategies, explore Green Cites’ 2023 Environmental & Community Impact Report. This report quantifies 70+ measurable outcomes across our assets, fund, and entire portfolio under the fie ESG pillars: Environmental Impact, Climate Change Mitigation, Resilience, Health & Wellbeing, and Equitable Communities.

To learn more about our strategies or about our proprietary AI/ML rent growth predictor and our Heat Map Index, contact Blake Phillips at [email protected] or visit our website at greencities.com.

[1] Industry certifications and awards does not imply a specific level a recommendation from these organizations.  There is no fee for the award. Past performance is not indicative of future results. For more information on GRESB please visit https://www.gresb.com/nl-en/. 
[2] Industry certifications does not imply a specific level a recommendation from these organizations. For more information on Fitwel please see www.fitwel.org.
[3] Green Cities was named by Mergers & Acquisitions as one of eight firms recognized as 2024 PE Best Places to Work.  The 2024 class have demonstrated leadership and innovation in transforming their workplace policies and environment to acknowledge changing demands in a post-pandemic world. There was no fee for the award.  For more information see www.themiddlemarket.com.