ESG benchmarking organisation GRESB has partnered with alternative investment platform Mercatus to develop a new set of data collection and analysis techniques to assess sustainability metrics in infrastructure assets.

In an announcement at a conference in Berlin, Mercatus’ co-founder and chief operating officer Tim Buchner said he hoped the deal would eventually allow investors to better assess how sustainability metrics impact investment performance in infrastructure assets.

“ESG has increasingly become a key requirement that customers are demanding we help them solve,” he said, in a statement released at the event.

“At the heart of ESG value creation is data. We are fully aligned with GRESB in our commitment to making the collection, analysis, submission and reporting of ESG and other asset-level data seamless and transparent for real asset investors across the globe.”

GRESB is globally recognised by asset managers and institutional investors as the benchmark for real estate and infrastructure sustainability performance. Its members include Aberdeen Standard Investments, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Kames Capital, Janus Henderson, Morgan Stanley, NN Investment Partners, UBS and USS among others.

The organisation’s director of infrastructure, Rick Walters, said the alliance with Mercatus comes at an important stage for GRESB.

He explained: “As our first infrastructure data partner, we commend Mercatus for taking the lead with infrastructure investment firms managing data down to the asset level and throughout the investment lifecycle.

“With the GRESB reporting window opening on 1 April 2019, Mercatus is well placed to assist Asset Managers with their upcoming reporting needs.”