AVAIO Capital Advances its ESG and Sustainability Commitments as a Member of GRESB and the SASB Alliance and a Signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment
NEW YORK, NY (October 16, 2019) - AVAIO Capital (“AVAIO”) announced today that it has joined both GRESB, the leading Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) benchmarking agency, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”) Alliance, the pre-eminent ESG standards organization, to support and inform AVAIO’s commitments to ESG factors in the creation of new sustainable infrastructure. AVAIO has also committed to the Principles for Responsible Investment (“PRI”), an investor initiative dedicated to developing a more sustainable global financial system.
As a GRESB Infrastructure Fund Manager, AVAIO will work with GRESB to monitor and measure ESG performance across AVAIO’s asset portfolio. GRESB conducts assessments of the ESG plans and policies of its members’ funds and fund assets, providing members with high-quality data and analytical tools to benchmark their ESG performance against peers and identify areas for improvement. AVAIO Partner Anthony J Gordon has joined the GRESB Infrastructure Benchmark Committee, the body established by GRESB to enable members to provide technical input and advice regarding best practices and innovation in infrastructure sustainability.
Membership in the SASB Alliance allows AVAIO to integrate SASB’s standards in its infrastructure development process. SASB provides industry-specific, materiality-based standards that guide infrastructure investors in applying best practices in ESG in their investment decisions. SASB’s materiality-based standards form an integral part of AVAIO’s investment decision-making process across its four key sectors (Transportation, Water, Digital Infrastructure and Energy).
As a PRI signatory, AVAIO has publicly stated a commitment to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment - incorporating ESG in the investment analysis/decision-making processes and asset ownership policies; disclosing ESG performance of assets; promoting acceptance of the Principles in the investment industry; working with other signatories to implement the Principles; and reporting on progress in advancing the Principles. The PRI will serve as a framework for AVAIO’s ESG policies and practices.
“Our participation in GRESB and the SASB Alliance, along with our commitment to the PRI, demonstrates AVAIO’s commitment to sustainability and best ESG practices in the creation of sustainable infrastructure,” said AVAIO Partner Mark McComiskey. “We look to take a leading role in setting the standard for sustainable real assets, and we at AVAIO believe a focus on these matters will lead to better outcomes for our investments.”
“These partnerships will help AVAIO better understand and address the ESG risks associated with infrastructure projects,” said Mr. Gordon. “Sustainability is only becoming more critical in the design and construction of new infrastructure.”
About SASB
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is an independent, non-profit standards-setting organization for ESG information. SASB connects businesses and investors on the financial impacts of sustainability. SASB’s mission is to help businesses around the world identify, manage and report on the sustainability topics that matter most to their investors. SASB standards are developed based on extensive feedback from companies, investors, and other market participants as part of a transparent, publicly documented process. SASB standards differ by industry, enabling investors and companies to compare performance from company to company within an industry. For more Information, please visit https://www.sasb.org/
About GRESB
GRESB is an industry-driven organization committed to rigorous and independent evaluation of the sustainability performance of real assets. Investors use GRESB data and analytical tools to manage ESG risks, capitalize on opportunities and engage with investment managers. GRESB validates, scores and benchmarks ESG performance data, providing business intelligence and engagement tools to investors and managers. More than 100 institutional investors, with over USD 22 trillion AUM, use GRESB data to monitor their investments, engage with their managers, and make decisions that lead to a more sustainable real asset industry. For more Information, please visit https://gresb.com/
About PRI
The PRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment. It works to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The PRI acts in the long-term interests of its signatories, of the financial markets and economies in which they operate and ultimately of the environment and society as a whole. For more Information, please visit https://www.unpri.org/
About AVAIO Capital
AVAIO is a build-to-core real assets investment manager led by a seasoned team of professionals with more than 150 years of infrastructure experience, drawing on investment, development, engineering and construction, and operating backgrounds. In aggregate, the team has completed more than $4 billion of equity transactions and over $50 billion of infrastructure development and construction projects across the water, transportation, digital and energy sectors. The team began in 2016 as members of AECOM Capital’s private infrastructure team and successfully spun out in early 2019, retaining a strategic relationship with AECOM.
AVAIO has a clearly defined focus on real asset creation and redevelopment opportunities and takes a disciplined approach in seeking to create societally necessary assets with a positive impact to surrounding communities and the environment. The firm concentrates on the creation or redevelopment of integral infrastructure assets throughout North America and Europe. AVAIO’s focus is on mid-stage and late-stage projects where we believe we can bring both capital and expertise and, importantly, where projects can be put into construction within two years or less.
For additional information, please visit http://www.avaiocapital.com or call +1 (646) 940-9901