MEDIA RELEASE
[Sydney – 14 May 2020] GRESB, the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) benchmark for real assets, recently recognised CAF Building Certification as having met the GRESB standards for a valid operational building certification, demonstrating itself as being industry best practice for evaluating the ESG performance of an asset within its ethical labour scope. GRESB assesses and benchmarks the ESG performance of real assets globally, providing standardised and validated data to the capital markets.
GRESB’s validation of CAF building certification recognises CAF as a best practice supply chain assurance mechanism for outsourced cleaning services. Achieving CAF 3 Star Certification will help portfolios improve their GRESB performance through both building certification recognition and stakeholder engagement practices. Building certifications account for 10.5% of the total GRESB Real Estate Score and CAF certifications can now be included as part of responding to the GRESB Assessment.
CAF Building Certification involves the independent assessment of a building’s cleaning supply chain against its rigorously designed and tested CAF Star Standard. Through the assessment process, labour standards for cleaners are reviewed and implemented, providing a mechanism to identify and mitigate risk of exploitation and modern slavery for the cleaning workforce, which is made up of vulnerable workers. CAF building certification provides assurance of responsible practices relating to procurement, employment, workplace health and safety, freedom of association, worker engagement, and investigation and remediation of labour rights violations.
CAF CEO, Poonam Datar says that “CAF certification at the asset level gives assurance to investors, building owners and their tenants that cleaning services are being procured and managed sustainably in a manner that places respect for cleaner’s labour rights at the forefront. With the recognition of CAF building certification by GRESB, the case for CAF Certification is even stronger, and will encourage asset owners to obtain the high level of supply chain assurance that CAF offers across their portfolios.”
For more information about CAF Building Certification, visit https://www.cleaningaccountability.org.au/certification/
For more information contact:
Poonam Datar
CEO, Cleaning Accountability Framework
E poonam@cleaningaccountability.org.au
M 0417 794 323
About the Cleaning Accountability Framework
The Cleaning Accountability Framework (CAF) is an independent, multi-stakeholder initiative that seeks to improve labour and cleaning standards in Australia. CAF has developed a voluntary certification scheme that assesses labour rights compliance at buildings. Unique to CAF, this involves consultation with cleaners both as part of the audit process, and for ongoing monitoring of compliance at the site. CAF is at the forefront of innovation to tackle modern slavery risk in Australia and has a proven track record in uncovering and remediating labour rights violations experienced by cleaners in Australia.