Andrea Palmer
CEO of the CRREM Foundation
Some employers are so good, they can feel like a “golden cage,” and PGGM is certainly one of them! As one of the most prominent institutional investors in the world, PGGM and PFZW have built renowned reputations for leadership in sustainable investing, which has inspired me since back when I was a junior analyst in Chicago, a decade ago.
PGGM always made me feel supported and encouraged me to grow: to take risks, challenge assumptions, and develop new skills. I truly felt at home there, surrounded by amazing colleagues who share a commitment to making a positive impact. Stepping away was not an easy decision.
But when the opportunity to lead CRREM came up, I realized this was the right moment to fully focus on what I believe is the most important standard for real estate sustainability going forward.
In today’s landscape, investors need clear, actionable guidance, and CRREM provides exactly that. Until CRREM, sustainability efforts in real estate have mostly been framed in relative terms, measuring progress against peers or setting incremental targets without a clear connection to the deep reductions that climate science demands.
CRREM changed this by offering the market an absolute standard, grounded in a rigorous scientific method. It defines what “enough” looks like in terms of intensity improvements, delivering a level of detail that is both practical for investors and powerful in driving real change.
An important strength of CRREM is its scientific roots. This basis naturally invites a culture of critical review and continued improvement. While CRREM’s scientific framework is robust, the underlying inputs such as emissions data, policy trajectories, and regional specifics will continue to be refined over time. When new, better, evidence emerges, we will apply it. This ensures the CRREM pathways remain credible, ambitious, and practically useful for real estate investors navigating the transition.
Investors need a few simple, insightful, metrics. CRREM enables a straight-forward way to inform transition risk pricing. When investors know how far a building is from its CRREM pathway, they can more accurately budget for the necessary capital expenditures to close the gap. This improves investment decision-making and risk management while supporting the timely allocation of resources to the buildings and interventions that matter most.
From an investment underwriting perspective, the concept of “distance from the CRREM pathway” provides tremendous indicative value. It gives a quantifiable signal of transition risk and sustainability performance that can be directly translated into cash flows and/or cap rates.
At PGGM, we assessed companies in the listed real estate portfolio based on their ability to set science-based targets aligned with the SBTi and CRREM pathways. This assessment considered factors such as management capabilities, existing targets, and the quality of climate-related disclosures. While the approach was qualitative in nature (due to data limitations), it recognized the maturity of a company’s transition risk management practices as a corporate governance factor that should be explicitly priced into equity valuations.
Looking ahead, I am excited to lead CRREM into its next phase. The CRREM Foundation will soon launch new organizational and pathway governance structures to ensure the foundation is well-positioned for long-term impact and broad stakeholder alignment. The new governance was designed to safeguard the scientific integrity of CRREM’s work while providing a solid ground to manage market expectations, in terms of pathway update processes and cadence.
If you’re interested in contributing to the future direction of CRREM, I encourage you to stay tuned. We will soon be launching an open call for applications to join CRREM’s new governing bodies. This is a unique opportunity to help shape the standards and pathways that will guide the real estate sector’s transition. I look forward to connecting with those who want to be part of this important journey.
Last year, together with colleagues from PGGM, I participated in our ‘You2030’ program facilitated by Gump. It was a several month leadership development journey focused on our core strengths and personal purpose. At the end of this, I landed on a personal purpose that was simple and that was a little nod to my yoga practice: live in alignment. With my values, and with what feels right. And this step feels right.
I believe CRREM is the standard that the sector must drive towards, and I am honored to contribute to accelerating its adoption globally. I leave PGGM full of gratitude, and I step forward with CRREM ready to tackle the hard, necessary work of transforming the real estate sector. The work ahead is challenging, but essential. Leading CRREM is about more than managing a standard. It’s about creating a shared pathway for real estate to align with and to meet the urgency of this moment.
