Empire State Realty Trust Achieves Top GRESB 5 Star Rating for Third Consecutive Year; Named Global, Americas Regional, and Americas Regional Listed Sector Leader for Office

ESRT received the second highest score overall in the most competitive peer group in the U.S.; the highest score for Public Disclosure; and top achievements in eight categories

NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) announced today that it achieved the highest possible Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) 5 Star Rating for the third consecutive year with a score of 95. ESRT additionally received a score of 96 and an "A" rating in the Public Disclosure Assessment that measures ESG disclosure activities. ESRT's overall score is the second highest in the most competitive peer group within the U.S, and its Public Disclosure score is ranked first.

"ESRT is an industry leader in efficient, healthy buildings that provide a destination for the market's flight to quality," said Anthony E. Malkin, ESRT chairman, president, and CEO. "This top score from such a reputable assessment serves as another proof point of our value and delivers confidence to our stakeholders."

GRESB is a rigorous standard that assesses and benchmarks the ESG performance of real assets and provides standardized and validated sustainability data to the capital markets. In this year's assessment, ESRT received three sector leader recognitions, which included Global Sector Leader, Regional Sector Leader Americas, and Regional Listed Sector Leader Americas for Office. Additionally, ESRT received top achievement scores in leadership, policies, reporting, stakeholder engagement, targets, tenants and community, data monitoring and review, and building certifications.

ESRT leads the global real estate industry in its sustainability initiatives and achievements, with energy efficiency and decarbonization measures to reduce operational emissions as important factors in ESRT's outstanding GRESB performance. ESRT recently announced that it has achieved carbon neutrality across its 9.9 million square foot commercial portfolio through a 43% portfolio-wide reduction in carbon emissions and all remaining emissions offset by renewable energy credits and biodiverse forest preservation. ESRT is on track to meet its target of net zero emissions with an 80% reduction in operational emissions at the Empire State Building by 2030 and throughout the portfolio by 2035, and transparently reports key ESG and DE&I goals and initiatives through its annual Sustainability Report.

This year, the company also announced the Empire Building Playbook: An Owner's Guide to Low Carbon Retrofits that outlines the step-by-step process for existing commercial buildings to develop a pathway to carbon reduction with proven returns on investment.

"Our groundbreaking sustainability, energy efficiency, and healthy buildings initiatives continue to expand and evolve to drive the industry forward and prove what is possible," said Dana Robbins Schneider, ESRT's SVP, director of sustainability, energy, and ESG.

More information about ESRT's sustainability practices can be found online.

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) is a REIT that owns and manages office, retail and multifamily assets in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area. ESRT owns the Empire State Building, the World's Most Famous Building, and Tripadvisor's 2022 Travelers' Choice Best of the Best Awards #1 attraction in the U.S. and #3 attraction in the world, the newly reimagined iconic Empire State Building Observatory. The company is a leader in healthy buildings, energy efficiency, and indoor environmental quality and has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per square foot of any publicly traded REIT portfolio in New York City. As of June 30, 2022, ESRT's portfolio is comprised of approximately 9.2 million rentable square feet of office space, 700,000 rentable square feet of retail space and 625 residential units across two multifamily properties. More information about Empire State Realty Trust can be found at esrtreit.com and by following ESRT on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. 

GRESB is a mission-driven and industry-led organization providing standardized and validated Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data to financial markets. Established in 2009, GRESB has become the leading ESG benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments across the world, used by more than 170 institutional and financial investors to inform decision-making. For more information, visit GRESB.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. You can identify these statements by our use of words such as "assumes," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects" or the negative of these words or similar words or expressions that do not relate to historical matters. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements, because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond ESRT's control and could materially affect actual results, performance or achievements. Such factors and risks include, without limitation, (i) the current public health crisis and economic disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) a failure of conditions or performance regarding any event or transaction described above, (iii) environmental uncertainties and risks related to climate change, adverse weather conditions, rising sea levels and natural disasters; (iv) accuracy of our methodologies and estimates regarding ESG metrics and goals; (v) tenant willingness and ability to collaborate in reporting ESG metrics and meeting ESG goals, (vi) impact of governmental regulation on our ESG efforts, (viii) and other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in ESRT's and ESROP's filings with the SEC, including those set forth in each of ESRT's and ESROP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 under the heading "Risk Factors." Except as may be required by law, ESRT and ESROP do not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.