Press release: GLOBAL REAL ESTATE’S JOURNEY TO NET ZERO IS MOVING SLOWLY
The Global Real Estate Engagement Network (GREEN) 2022 collaborative engagements found real estate companies are decarbonising but not on track to meet Net Zero targets.
GREEN’s research, engagements and discussions with the industry in 2022, found just a third of companies are targeting Net Zero. Although more than half of larger REITs have set a Science Based Target. Companies are also reluctant to adopt building certification and prioritising energy and CO2 efficiency measures to the extent necessary to achieve the Paris goals on perceived cost-benefits grounds.
Public real estate companies are at risk of over-rely on offsetting and green energy purchases, which cannot remove transition risks. Moreover, they are downplaying risks through non-disclosure of physical and transition risks. In future, this could require additional, deeper retrofits than currently planned for.
Vincent van Bijleveld head of GREEN emphasised the importance of asset owners and managers engaging the listed real estate sector:
“Real estate is responsible for more than 30% of carbon emissions. Investors need to start encouraging companies to take steps to lower the financial and non-financial climate risks from real estate. Asset owners and their managers should consider engaging companies about how they manage climate risk, either as a part of GREEN or individually.”
