According to the UN Environmental Programme, the real estate sector has one of the largest carbon footprints, contributing to 30 per cent of global annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and consumes around 40 per cent of the world's energy.

This explains the increasing focus on climate change issues and responsible investment practices.

SGX and UOB Asset Management have jointly launched the iEdge-UOB Apac Yield Focus Green Reit Index, an index which tracks the performance of 50 higher-yielding Reits in Asia-Pacific (Apac) with positive environmental attributes based on the GRESB assessment framework.

GRESB is the global leader for ESG research of real assets, covering more than 1,500 property companies, Reits, funds and developers with US$5.7 trillion in assets under management.

Out of the 50 constituents, nine are S-REITs & Property Trusts: CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, Suntec REIT, Keppel REIT, Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust, and Ascendas India Trust.

The iEdge-UOB Apac Yield Focus Green Reit Index is the first index globally to go beyond using the overall GRESB score and focus on four key environmental indicators to determine the environmental attributes - energy consumption, water consumption, GHG emissions, and green building certifications.

The index is expected to be fully investable and tradable, as Apac Reits are included into the index based on minimum size of US$1 billion in free-float market capitalisation, liquidity requirements of at least US$400,000 in median daily average traded value, dividend yield-ranking within market cap quartiles, and a minimum GRESB public disclosure score among others.

After which a green tilt is applied using the GRESB Real Estate Assessment environmental scores.

Reits that have more favourable environmental attributes will be rewarded with a higher weighting factor, compared to Reits that have relative lower environmental scores.

By applying the green portfolio tilt, the iEdge-UOB Apac Yield Focus Green Reit Index constituents emit 7 per cent less GHG, consume 12 per cent less water and 9 per cent less energy than the non-green market-cap weighted version of the index.

Green building certification by floor area is also 13 per cent for certifications obtained at the time of design, construction or renovation, and 10 per cent for operational green building certifications.

All constituent weights are capped at 7 per cent and overall country exposure capped at 40 per cent.

Japan makes up 40 per cent of the index, while Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong are at 36 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.

The index has a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 4.25 per cent.

The UOB Apac Green Reit ETF, which has filed a prospectus with an expected listing on Nov 23, will track the iEdge-UOB Apac Yield Focus Green Reit Index.

The ETF has a target dividend distribution policy of up to 4 per cent of net asset value per annum on a quarterly basis. 

REIT Watch is a weekly column on The Business Times, read the original version.