Sarah Blankfield

Current role: 

GRESB Manager Member Relations, Oceania

Last role at Charter Hall: 

Investor Relations Manager  

Time at Charter Hall:

2019-2023

What career achievement are you most proud of?

I don’t think there’s one specific achievement that I’m most proud of, but more my broader willingness to create and seize opportunities. I started my career in book publishing and am now working in real assets sustainability. It’s been a winding path, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

What is the most valuable lesson you learnt during your time at Charter Hall?

That opportunities don’t land in your lap, but you can create them. I was incredibly privileged to have great leaders and mentors who were supportive of my career ambitions and allowed me to run with them. From being purely investor relations, to taking on a hybrid role with sustainability, the flexibility and support was key. However, I had to be the one who drove my own development.

Who would sit around the table at your ideal dinner party?

I’d like to fill the table with awesome women who paved the way for the opportunities we have today, such as the Pankhursts, Kate Sheppard, Ada Lovelace, Kathryn Bigelow, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, to name just a few! Maybe, we could brainstorm how to keep improving things…

What are you currently working on that has you excited?

There is always a lot going on in GRESB-land, but the development that has me and many of my members excited is a new assessment being created for Data Centres. It’s a growing sector across both our real estate and infrastructure benchmarks, that is obviously in need of something more unique. I’m excited to see where the assessment ends up for 2026 reporting.

Our Alumni is founded on the idea of ‘Connection for life’, how have you embraced this?

I’m not even sure where to start with this one, because Charter Hall connections permeate all layers of my life. I’m lucky that Charter Hall is one of my largest members in my current role, so I have endless excuses to talk to the sustainability team. I’ll still regularly pick up the phone to Andrew Cole (Group Head of ESG) if I need to talk something through. I also have several work friends who became friend friends. And then there are the people who used to work for Charter Hall, who are everywhere across the industry – there’s an instant connection when you realise that shared background.

GRESB’s benchmarking plays a key role in driving transparency, how do you see data influencing the future of sustainable property investment?

Our work at GRESB is focused on empowering the financial industry to advance environmental, operational and financial sustainability across real assets. Transparency is absolutely a key use of the data, but it is also used by our members to foster engagement and actionable insights. The current condition of sustainability globally can only be described as dynamic, but our investors are telling us that it’s making them refocus on real world outcomes. The in-depth, globally comparable, and validated data that GRESB provides is becoming even more important in this climate, allowing investors to engage deeply with their managers. 

What’s one challenge you’ve faced in aligning investor expectations with long-term sustainability goals, and how did you navigate it?

The question that we’re frequently asked is about the link between sustainability and financial performance, particularly with Super Funds who have the Your Future Your Super annual performance test. Especially in established markets like Australia, we are starting to see more of a 'brown discount' for assets performing below market expectations, rather than a 'green premium' for those performing above expectations. Because my role cuts across the entire real assets sustainability ecosystem in Oceania, my approach always focuses on collaboration across managers, investors and partners. I’m fortunate to work with a group of investors who are truly committed to long-term sustainability goals, no matter the political climate.

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