ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG climate change

Climate change presents new challenges for the real estate sector but also an opportunity to get ahead of the competition. The topic was discussed at Balkans Property Forum 2021, Property Forum’s annual event in Belgrade.

The 2028 pledge, launched ahead of COP26, is a potential game changer for the industry as the accelerated action plan aims at net zero without offsets several years ahead of IPCC’s target date. Nordic real estate investor, NREP, has committed to being carbon neutral by 2028 without offsets, encompassing both operational and embodied carbon. 

CPI Property Group plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and commits to transition all electricity purchases by the Group to 100% renewable sources by 2024. The company announced changes to the Group’s environmental strategy and targets.

Concrete and the cement used as a binder in it have been found one of the major contributors to climate change. Cement production accounted for 7% of all global carbon dioxide emissions in 2018, a ratio unlikely to decrease in coming decades as concrete remains one of the most often used resources on Earth. This has made creating a technology that prevents large quantities of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere when concrete is poured necessary, according to an article by the World Economic Forum.

ESG considerations play an increasingly important role in investment, financing and location decisions across the real estate industry. Four Colliers experts talked to Property Forum to discuss the role of sustainability in the post-COVID-19 world.

BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management (BNP Paribas REIM) has successfully launched the first property fund that sets out to be compliant with the 2015 Paris Agreement, a landmark agreement that brought nations together to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. 

Skanska plans to build the first climate-neutral office building in the CEE region. The developer is going to use a solution based on structural timber, as wood is a natural resource that will help reduce the carbon footprint. Construction works on the office building located on Radlická Street in Prague are planned to begin in 2023. Skanska has made a global commitment through a climate target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, with a 50% reduction by 2030.

Prologis is extending its UK partnerships with climate change charity ‘Cool Earth’ and sustainability certification company ‘The Planet Mark’ to its European operations, as part of an initiative to reduce and mitigate whole-life carbon emissions in all its new logistics buildings. Under the programme, Prologis will work with Cool Earth to fund the protection of rainforests to mitigate unavoidable embodied carbon emissions in its new developments across Europe and, in this way, help protect an area of rainforest 31 times larger than the size of each building.

7R, a Polish warehouse developer, is implementing new technology to manage the risks connected with flat roofs. The "Smart Roof" platform, developed by Sense Monitoring, helps to prevent roof overload by alerting the building's manager in advance of potential danger. 7R will apply the system in the 7R Park Gdańsk II logistics complex in Kowale, where a monitored roof will cover over 60,000 sqm of modern warehouse space.

Arcadis published the annual results of the international construction costs comparison (International Construction Costs 2020). Arcadis ICC Index 2020 monitors 100 cities around the world, assessing their construction costs and market conditions. This year's study also includes an insight into the construction industry in view of the current coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate change. According to the ICC Index 2020, Prague has higher construction costs in the CEE region than Warsaw (Poland), Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania) and Sofia (Bulgaria), but lower than Zagreb (Croatia).