Global growth equity firm General Atlantic, through its BeyondNetZero climate growth fund, will acquire a majority stake in Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), an investor-led organization that evaluates the sustainability performance of property companies, real estate investment trusts, funds and developers.

General Atlantic will acquire the stake from existing shareholder Summit Partners, which will retain a minority position in GRESB following the close of the transaction. The equity firm’s investment will allow GRESB, it says, to expand its work on transition finance, fixed income, the REAL Solutions family of services and more.

The organization’s benchmarks and insights are generated from data self-reported through annual assessments for standing real estate investments, real estate projects in development, infrastructure funds, and infrastructure assets – both operational and in various stages of development. Each year, it publishes global aggregated benchmark data that highlight the state and continued progress of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in the industry.

“GRESB delivers standardization and comparability across the real assets ecosystem, encouraging all participants to measure and improve ESG credentials,” states Tom Hussey, a principal at General Atlantic. “We believe that the company is backed by long-term tailwinds as decarbonization and ESG benchmarking become core metrics for LP [limited partner] portfolios. We intend to leverage our expertise at the intersection of innovative data, technology and climate solutions to support GRESB in its continued expansion and product development.”