Property Forum talked to Carolien Gehrels, Global Director of Energy Transition at Arcadis, on the occasion of the RICS World Built Environment Forum – Europe event, where she was one of the keynote speakers.

Austrian developers and construction companies show a good example of how to realise truly sustainable buildings. Green residential projects are not a goal, but practice in Austria, says Rudolf Riedl, Managing Director of SÜBA Hungary who also shared his opinion on the shortcomings of the Hungarian real estate market.

Introducing the first of its kind, RICS World Built Environment Forum – Europe is taking place at the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice on 19-20 October 2023. At this two-day forum, organised by RICS in collaboration with Generali Real Estate, over a hundred professionals from across the region are taking part, offering a unique opportunity to network, collaborate and exchange industry best practices. Property Forum is proud to be joining the event as a Media Partner and readers have the chance to secure tickets with a 10% discount using the WBEFPF code.

EPP’s near- and long-term science-based targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). By 2050, the largest asset manager of retail real estate located in Poland commits to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across scopes 1, 2 and 3. 

What's driving ESG investments in 2023? This question was attempted to be answered by the participants of one of the panel discussions at the CEE Property Forum 2023 conference, which was held last week in Vienna. We write about some of the answers they found in the summary below.

Wing has published its second ESG report, providing information about its environmental, social, and governance efforts, as well as its goals, the measures it has taken and the results it has achieved in 2022. The report has been prepared in accordance with the company’s first comprehensive ESG strategy, which will be finalised soon.

A key to a successful property development is a responsible real estate development strategy which also takes into account accessibility, self-sustainability and biodiversity. Zsolt Hintenberger MRICS, Managing Partner at Realiscon talked to Property Forum about the different aspects of ESG compliance, going deeper than the usual buzzwords.

Tomáš Vrbický, Founder of Czech development company Noho, talked to Property Forum about the recent energy crisis's positive impact on the sustainable housing approach. According to him, the crises also helped people to think about “green” housing more deeply and be more willing to pay extra for such living with unique solutions for energy savings as it can enormously reduce energy costs in the future.

It has been a busy year for the European Commission’s corporate accountability initiatives, including updates to the EU Sustainable Finance portfolio. These policy changes, reflecting the Commission’s focus on improving the energy performance of the EU building stock, are consequential for EU real estate investors and developers.  New sustainability-linked financing models and Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) ratings standardisation complement the European Green Deal by directing financing to real estate construction and renovation that maximises energy performance. These programs enable EU real estate investors and builders to collaboratively reduce energy use and meet the EU Climate Law’s 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by fifty-five percent. Strategic policy and research consultant Lisa Chase has summarised the policy framework for Property Forum.

More than three-quarters (76%) of office stock across Europe will be at risk of obsolescence by 2030 according to the latest report from Cushman & Wakefield. One of the reasons is the increased level of legislative action around sustainability requiring investors to modernise real estate to ensure ESG compliance. To take one example, commercial property landlords are required in a growing number of cities across North America and Europe to install green roofs that help increase urban biodiversity, optimise energy costs and improve the user experience.