With $220 billion of assets under management (AUM), PGGM is a global leader in responsible investing, allocating 12%—$26.4 billion—to real estate across public and private markets. As one of Europe’s largest pension asset managers, PGGM relies on investment-grade ESG data to inform decisions and align portfolios with long-term sustainability goals.
As performance-driven sustainability data becomes central to investment strategies, PGGM is leveraging ESGx Securities to assess risk across its U.S. and European portfolios. In doing so, PGGM is advancing its sustainability goals while helping shape how institutional investors use real-time sustainability data to drive smarter, more resilient investment decisions.
In this conversation, Andrea Palmer, Responsible Investment Lead for PGGM’s Global Real Estate Securities, shares how real-time, asset-level energy data is reshaping how investors assess risk, compliance, and value in listed real estate.
ABOUT PGGM
- $220B Total AUM
- $26.4B in Real Estate Investments (Private & Listed)
- Manages funds on behalf of the pension fund for the Dutch nursing and caregiving sector
“Listed real estate presents a unique challenge—we invest in companies, not individual buildings. To accurately assess risk and value, we need insight into the underlying portfolios.
Access to structured, asset-level sustainability data, like we get from Measurabl, is critical. By leveraging ESGx Securities, PGGM is not only advancing its own sustainability goals but also shaping how institutional investors use real-time ESG data to drive smarter, more resilient investment strategies.” – Andrea Palmer, Responsible Investment Lead, PGGM
What are the biggest data challenges real estate investors face today?
“One of the biggest challenges in the industry is the lack of structured, comparable data. While many companies disclose sustainability metrics, they often do so through PDFs, fragmented data points, and broad corporate summaries—without consistency in scope or calculation methodologies. As a result, it’s nearly impossible to assess performance at scale or compare across portfolios.
To address this, PGGM leverages best-in-class estimations grounded in measured energy performance inputs, location-based emissions factors, and a standardized methodology applied across more than 70,000 assets in the FTSE EPRA NAREIT Developed Index. In contrast to the fragmented and inconsistent ESG data typically available in the public sphere, this structured approach enables deeper insights and more reliable portfolio analysis.
Another issue is the focus on solely carbon data versus real energy consumption. Without granular energy data, investors are left guessing about operational performance, transition risk, and regulatory compliance. Carbon data is important, but it’s ultimately a derivative of energy. If we don’t understand real energy consumption, we’re working off assumptions, not reality.
One of the biggest gaps right now is the lack of transparency around CapEx planning for energy efficiency improvements. Investors need better visibility into how much capital will be required to align real estate portfolios with regulatory and market expectations. Companies that fail to disclose credible CapEx transition plans may be penalized with risk premia for the uncertainty it gives investors. The industry needs better data, better disclosure, and better alignment with financial decision-making. Investors who integrate structured, verifiable data into their valuation models will be the ones who come out ahead.”
How does PGGM integrate sustainability data into its investment strategy?
“Our investment process is rooted in 3D investing, where sustainability, risk, and return are equally weighted. To make this work, we need structured, standardized data that provides real insights—not assumptions or broad corporate disclosures.
At the selection stage, companies that do not meet ESG criteria are excluded. Beyond exclusions, these factors influence valuations in two key ways: First, ESG data is integrated into cash flow projections for property portfolio valuation, though this is very much a work in progress that better data is helping us with. Secondly, we integrate sustainability risk management into the “corporate wrapper” component of the equity valuation by adjusting the required return for the stock that gets used to discount to present value.
With Measurabl’s ESGx Securities, PGGM can assess energy performance at a deeper level, leading to more informed cash flow assumptions and cost of equity.”
How does PGGM use ESGx Securities to improve data accuracy and risk assessment?
“Coverage and asset-level information were the key factors that led us to Measurabl. While many platforms offer broad market coverage of generic ESG data points, few provide the depth of energy efficiency data needed for real estate investing. Unlike those that estimate carbon emissions based solely on high level metrics such as revenue, Measurabl delivers estimates derived from its deep pool of building-specific data.
ESGx Securities also allows us to assess companies’ CRREM alignment, to measure risk exposure, align with SFDR and EU Taxonomy reporting using energy efficiency as a compliance estimate, identify assets at risk of stranding due to poor energy performance, and make more informed capital allocation decisions based on estimated operational data.”
From Data to Decision: ESGx Securities unlocks the granularity of meter-level data to deliver investment-grade insights across any portfolio.
How does sustainability data influence regulatory compliance and risk management?
“SFDR and other regulations require energy efficiency indicators that are extremely difficult for listed real estate investors, as they call for many asset-level variables in the calculation. Measurabl helps fill this gap by giving us structured, investment-grade energy data we can use for regulatory reporting metrics. For example, SFDR requires us to disclose the percentage of a portfolio invested in energy-inefficient assets—but listed real estate investors don’t have direct access to the underlying asset-level data to be able to calculate this precisely as they ask. Instead of relying on vague proxies based on building certifications, we use Measurabl’s real energy efficiency data to match portfolios against CRREM pathways, determining the actual proportion of high-risk assets. It’s a work around, but we think it makes the most sense given the options we have. This has enabled us to fundamentally change how we assess transition risk exposure.”
How is the industry tackling the data access problem, and is it improving?
“Disclosure is a step in the right direction—it gets the wheels in motion. The first priority is transparency into the current state, followed by building an understanding of what the data means and how to manage it.
We need a global standard for reporting, so that global investors can structurally assess risks in their portfolio without navigating needless nuances. But before companies can report on transition risk and capital needs, they need to understand them. The first step isn’t just transparency—it’s conducting the right analysis. Do they actually know how much capital is required to align with decarbonization pathways? In many cases, they don’t.
Once companies have a clearer picture, they can begin to disclose in a structured way. And that’s the real challenge—most ESG data in the public sphere lacks standardization. There’s plenty of disclosure, but it’s scattered, inconsistent, and nearly impossible to compare across companies and portfolios. That’s why structured, investment-grade data is so valuable.
There’s often skepticism around estimations, but structured estimations based on actual energy inputs, location-based emissions factors, and consistent methodologies are far more reliable than the broad, inconsistent disclosures we typically see. Standardized, comparable data isn’t just a compliance necessity; it’s critical for making informed investment decisions.
Investors are shifting their focus from carbon proxies to real energy performance. While current estimates may not fully capture capex improvements, this shift signals a new frontier in real estate investing—understanding not just where a portfolio stands today, setting a critical baseline for decision-making..”
The Data-Driven Path Forward
The industry is pushing for greater data transparency, but reliability and consistency remain critical gaps. Investors need structured, verifiable data that drives financial decision-making. PGGM’s shift from broad ratings to data-driven assessments reflects the growing demand for real-time, asset-level insights. As regulatory and market pressures mount, structured data will be key to turning sustainability from a compliance requirement into a competitive advantage.
ESGx Securities applies a consistent methodology across property portfolios, giving investors the clarity they need to understand climate risk exposure and make informed real estate investment decisions.
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About PGGM
PGGM is a not-for-profit cooperative pension fund service provider. As a pensions administrator, asset manager and management consultant, it executes its social mandate: to provide for good old-age incomes for participants affiliated to Pension Fund Zorg en Welzijn, Pension Fund Metaal en Techniek, Stipp, Bpf Schilders and Bpf Koopvaardij. PGGM administers and manages the pensions of 5.6 million participants. As of 31 December 2024, PGGM managed EUR 261 billion of long-term pension capital for its clients worldwide. PGGM originates from the health and social care sector and uses its expertise to support this valuable sector with labour market issues. Via the member organisation PGGM&CO, we support 765,000 active members and pensioners with a background in the health and social care sector. Learn more at www.www.pggm.nl.