Client: Pan-Asia diversified real assets investor
Sector: Real Estate / Private Equity
Location: Asia-Pacific
Client Since: 2022
Ambition: The client sought to explore options for carbon reduction target setting and performance tracking for a dynamic real estate portfolio. It aimed to transition from basic emissions tracking to a sophisticated, centralized ESG management framework, enabling 1.5°C-aligned target setting, automated multi-standard reporting, and data-driven identification of value-creation opportunities.
Services: 1.5°C-Aligned Target Framework Assessment | ESG Data Management Tool | Carbon Inventory Development | Scope 1, 2 & 3 Emissions Reporting | CRREM Transition Risk Assessment
About the Client
The client is the real estate investment arm of a leading Asia-focused alternative investment manager, overseeing a geographically dispersed portfolio of real estate and private equity assets across the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2022, the client has partnered with RESET Carbon to build the strategic frameworks and ESG data infrastructure needed to meet escalating investor, regulatory, and stakeholder expectations on climate performance.
The Challenge
As ESG disclosure requirements tightened and investor scrutiny intensified, the firm faced a set of interrelated challenges in managing and disclosing its portfolio performance.
- The dynamic nature of the firm’s investment portfolio, with assets regularly entering and exiting, created significant complexity in setting emissions targets that were both credible and aligned with a 1.5°C pathway.
- Performance data was fragmented across geographically dispersed sites with no efficient and centralized system for consolidation or analysis, making it difficult to understand emissions performance at the granularity needed to identify where reductions would generate the most meaningful return on investment.
In light of these challenges, it became critical to evaluate the firm’s carbon strategy against 1.5°C-aligned target setting frameworks and identify the methodology best suited to a dynamic, closed- and open-ended real estate investment portfolio.
At the same time, the firm needed to establish a systematic and efficient way to consolidate ESG data, standardize carbon accounting, and support multi-framework reporting and performance tracking across funds and assets.
Our Approach
RESET Carbon structured the engagement in two interconnected workstreams, beginning with strategy and framework selection, then building the systems to bring that strategy to life.
1.5°C-Aligned Target Framework Assessment and Strategy Review
RESET Carbon took the following approach: Conducted a review of leading 1.5°C-aligned target-setting methodologies applicable to real estate and investment managers, including science-based and sector-specific approaches.
- Benchmarked peers and market practice to understand investor expectations and competitive positioning.
- Facilitated workshops with the client’s investment and asset management teams to discuss and evaluate how portfolio characteristics (for example, fund lifecycles, acquisition/disposal strategies, regional mix) would impact the most suitable target-setting framework for the business model.
- Developed a recommended target-setting approach, including principles for Scope 1, 2 and relevant Scope 3 coverage, boundary definitions, and a roadmap for implementation aligned with a 1.5°C pathway.
Centralized Carbon Inventory and ESG Data Tooling
RESET Carbon aimed to establish the data infrastructure needed to capture, manage and analyze portfolio-wide carbon and ESG data, enabling consistent reporting, performance tracking and informed investment decisions:
- Built a standardized emissions inventory to collect activity data from assets and property managers and calculate Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in an auditable, portfolio-consistent format.
- Designed and deployed a strategy and fund-Level ESG Data Management Tool as a pre-digital prototype to streamline data consolidation, automate Greenhouse Gas (GHG) performance tracking at fund and asset level, and support reporting to key frameworks such as GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark), GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), INREV (European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles), PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment), and CRREM (Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor).
- Developed integrated dashboards to provide fund managers and asset teams with granular performance breakdowns and benchmarking, enabling them to link decarbonization opportunities with investment and asset management decisions.
Transition Risk and Financial Exposure Analysis
RESET Carbon’s analysis was designed to future-proof the client’s decarbonization progress: Applied the CRREM framework and forward-looking emissions projection modelling to assess when and where assets in the portfolio risk becoming non-compliant with decarbonization pathways and potential future carbon regulation.
- Translated technical model outputs into practical insights to support capital allocation, asset business plans, and prioritization of decarbonization interventions.
Results
As a result of RESET Carbon’s engagement, the client achieved three main outcomes:
Operational efficiency
- Automated and standardized data collection and emissions calculation replaced manual, fragmented workflows, significantly reducing effort and error risk in ESG reporting.
- Fund and asset teams gained a consistent view of carbon and ESG performance across the portfolio, enabling more timely and informed management actions.
Strategic foundation for 1.5°C alignment
- RESET supported the client to achieve a clear view of a suitable 1.5°C-aligned target-setting approach tailored to the realities of a dynamic investment portfolio, including guidance on scope coverage, metrics, and governance.
- CRREM-based misalignment analysis provided an asset-level view of potential climate-related financial exposure, informing investment committee discussions and asset business plans.
Stakeholder confidence and reporting readiness
- The multi-standard reporting and tracking capabilities established through the ESG data tool meet the requirements of key investor and disclosure frameworks, improving the client’s ability to respond to due diligence, regulatory inquiries, and voluntary reporting.
The partnership has enabled the client to move from reactive, compliance-focused ESG management to a proactive, data-driven decarbonization approach across its real estate asset portfolio.
To learn more about how RESET Carbon supports real estate investors and asset managers on ESG data management, carbon accounting, and decarbonization strategy, please contact us.