Climate-Resilient REIT Index

CLIMX identifies and tracks U.S. publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that demonstrate greater resilience to climate-related physical risks and extreme weather events. The index is not directly investable; for products tracking the index, see Index Licensees.

Independent, third-party index calculation and publishing by INDXX

Download Methodology (PDF)

What Makes CLIMX Different

First and Only

The first and only REIT index to apply insurance-industry climate and extreme-weather analytics directly to index construction at both the property and portfolio level.

Not Just Market-Cap Weighted

Unlike traditional REIT benchmarks, it does not rely solely on market capitalization.

Not ESG/Emissions/Supply-Chain Based

Unlike ESG, sustainability, or supply-chain-focused products, it does not use emissions metrics, qualitative scores, or exclusionary screens.

Insurance-Grade Models

Leverages climate and catastrophe models developed by the insurance industry—an industry that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to quantify physical risk, price policies, and pay claims.

Index Overview

The Index combines market capitalization with Climate Global's proprietary Climate Robustness & Durability Score (CRDS) — a science-based framework that leverages the same insurance-grade catastrophe models and analytical standards relied upon by global insurers and reinsurers to price policies and construct insurance portfolios.

Index Tickers

Price Return: CLIMX
Total Return: CLIMXTR
Net Total Return: CLIMXNTR

Key Dates

Base Date: March 11, 2016
Initial Value: 1,000
Rebalancing: Quarterly

Climate Robustness & Durability Score (CRDS)

CRDS is a proprietary, quantitative measure of how resilient a REIT's underlying real-estate portfolio is to climate and severe weather risks. It draws on catastrophe-modeling practices and property-level climate analytics employed by the insurance & reinsurance industry.

Components

Asset-Level Hazard Exposure

Each asset in a REIT's portfolio is evaluated using stochastic, forward-looking hazard simulations calibrated by historical economic loss data. Perils include:

Flood
Hurricane
Wildfire
Hail
Wind
Tornado
Heat stress
Water stress
Sea level rise

Portfolio Aggregation

Weighted roll-up of asset-level scores into a portfolio-level metric, taking into account loss correlation between geographically proximal properties. Similar to how insurers underwrite portfolio risk.

Economic Proxies

Market capitalization serves as a practical, observable proxy for NPV of discounted cash flows. The methodology blends CRDS with market cap while balancing diversification & concentration.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for inclusion, securities must have:

Country of domicile, incorporation, and listing: United States
Minimum total market capitalization: USD 100 million

Methodology

Universe

All publicly listed U.S. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

Exclusions

Mortgage REITs are excluded. Eligible sectors: Industrial, Office, Retail, Residential, Self-Storage, Lodging/Resorts, Health Care, Data Centers, Timber, Specialty, Infrastructure, and Diversified.

Additional Filtering

REITs classified as Specialty, Infrastructure, or Diversified are excluded if a majority of their total assets are not within eligible operating sectors.

CRDS Scoring

Each eligible REIT is assigned a Climate Robustness & Durability Score (CRDS) by evaluating every property in its portfolio through a multi-layered assessment:

Perils Evaluated

Each property is assessed across multiple climate and extreme-weather perils:

Flood
Hurricane
Wildfire
Hail
Wind
Tornado
Heat stress
Water stress
Sea level rise

Property-Level Assessment

Individual assets are evaluated using stochastic hazard simulations that generate probabilistic loss estimates. Loss factors are calibrated to dollar-based losses derived from historical insurance claims data—the same data insurers use to price policies and pay claims.

Portfolio-Level Aggregation

Property-level scores are aggregated to a portfolio-level metric that accounts for correlated risks. Properties in close geographic proximity face common exposure to the same catastrophic events (e.g., a single hurricane affecting multiple coastal properties). This spatial correlation is explicitly modeled—similar to how insurers and reinsurers assess portfolio concentration risk.

Data Requirements

REITs lacking sufficient asset-level data required for climate risk assessment are excluded.

Final Composition

A tunable climate threshold (δ) is applied to CRDS values. The Index comprises at least 30 constituents, at most 40% of all eligible REITs, with a nominal target range of 30-80 constituents.

Weighting

Constituent weights combine market capitalization with CRDS in a way that avoids overconcentration in any single name while balancing climate resilience and investability. The result is effectively a CRDS-weighted net present value of discounted cash flows.

Reconstitution & Rebalancing

Frequency Quarterly

Selection Day Close of nearest Friday at least one month before Reconstitution Effective Day

Weight Calculation Seven trading days prior to Reconstitution Effective Day

Effective Day Close of second Friday of March, June, September, December

Index Administration

Index Administrator Climate Global LLC

Index Calculation Agent INDXX

Index Publisher INDXX