Industry super fund Local Government Super (LGS) has been recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia for its sustainable building practices with a ‘6 Star Green Star – Performance’ rating for its direct property portfolio.
It had also been certified ‘carbon neutral’ by Climate Active for the third consecutive year, which applied to all seven NABERS-rated buildings in the fund’s portfolio.
The Green Star rating assessed the operation performance of existing buildings across nine categories, which included management, indoor environment quality, energy usage, transport, water consumption, building materials, emissions, innovation, and land use and ecology.
It was used by building owners to measure how successfully they managed existing assets and helped communicate this commitment to investors and building users.
Phil Stockwell, LGS chief executive said the rating for the fund’s $720 million direct property portfolio underscored LGS’ commitment to responsible investing.
“LGS is proud to be recognised with this accolade for the operating performance of our direct property portfolio,” Stockwell said.
“It complements the portfolio’s third consecutive carbon neutral certification that we just received, as well as our existing NABERS ratings, further demonstrating LGS’ long-term leadership and commitment to sustainability.”
Scott Armstrong, LGS head of property, said the fund was committed to ensuring responsible management practices remained in place to minimise the environmental impact across its direct property portfolio.
“This is an outstanding achievement as we have become the first diversified portfolio which includes office, retail and industrial buildings to achieve the 6 Star Green Star – Performance rating in Australia,” Armstrong said.
“We believe that high sustainability performance translates to better investment performance for our members as green buildings have a better ability to attract and retain tenants and also have high-quality management.”
Super funds have built on early financial year momentum, as growth funds deliver strong results driven by equities and resilient bonds.
The super fund has announced that Mark Rider will step down from his position of chief investment officer (CIO) after deciding to “semi-retire” from full-time work.
Rest has joined forces with alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital, co-investing in a real estate trust, with the aim of capitalising on systemic changes in debt financing.
The Future Fund’s CIO Ben Samild has announced his resignation, with his deputy to assume the role of interim CIO.