Northern Trust is a global asset management firm serving institutional and individual investors in 29 countries, with $942 billion in assets under management.

Northern Trust has launched a sustainable real estate index in collaboration with GRESB, a Netherlands-based organisation, and a Dutch-domiciled pooled fund that is passively-managed to mirror the index.

The index is available to investors using Northern Trust Asset Management vehicles and was developed in response to demand for a passive approach to real estate investing that incorporates environmental, social and governance factors, the firm said in a statement.

GRESB is an investor-driven organisation involved in sustainable real estate assessment. It analyses the ESG performance of real assets globally, including real estate portfolios and infrastructure assets, using 40 specific indicators across seven aspects of sustainability.

“The environmental performance of buildings has been shown to have a clear link with the underlying financial performance of the assets, and with the risk return profile of property companies or investment funds ultimately owning the assets,” said Sander Paul van Tongeren, managing director of GRESB. “This new fund will, uniquely, allow investors to passively gain exposure to companies that are highly transparent about their ESG performance and reducing environmental and social impact while also incorporating broad geographic and sector diversification."