On 12th December 2015 history was made in Paris when 195 countries agreed to work together to substantially curb global warming by limiting it to a maximum of to 2°C, possibly 1.5°C, and phase out fossil fuels by the end of the 21st century.
More than ever before, governments all over the world are now constrained to find cost-effective ways to curb pollution, with every sector and every economic actor coming under close scrutiny. The buildings sector has one of the highest carbon footprints – it currently contributes to 30% of global annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and consumes around 40% of the world’s energy. Following through on the commitments made in Paris means avoiding 77% in total CO2 emissions in the buildings sector by 2050 compared to today’s levels. At the same time, the sector’s mitigation potential is huge.
Achieving this potential will be critical, but it requires massive investments to be made.
To support real estate investors with this work, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and its global partners (IGCC, IIGCC, Ceres INCR, PRI and the RICS) have come together to create clear signposts for action for real estate stakeholders, regardless of size or existing level of sophistication of ESG and climate issues. These easy to understand and apply actions and accompanying framework distil all available material published over the last five years, reviewing and filtering those most relevant for each of the real estate stakeholders and the different steps in the investment process. The result is an easily accessible framework that leaves no excuse for real estate stakeholders to start taking action.
Download an interactive copy of the framework.
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Executive summary
Press release
Published: 2016 | by: UNEPFI, Ceres, IGCC, IIGCC, PRI, RICS
Sustainable Real Estate Investment (6.6 MB | 70 pages)