Occupier demand for sustainable buildings in the UK has risen, and global
appetite for green buildings is on the rise, but legislative uncertainty and
lack of measurement is holding industry back from making a real impact on net
zero targets.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) today has published its
global sustainability report for 2023.
The publication outlines the state of the world's green and sustainable real
estate and investor interest in acquiring and developing it.
In the UK, around three-fifths of contributors suggested that investor
demand for green buildings rose to some extent in the past year. Its headline
Sustainable Building Index (SBI) measure reported a +60% net balance of
respondents believing that demand for green and sustainable buildings rose over
the past year. This UK measure is stronger than the global average balance,
which stands at +44%, although the UK figure lags a little behind Europe, which
records the highest global sentiment at +73%.
Although both occupier and investor demand is rising, we are still seeing a
lack of measurement. Like the 2022 and 2021 reports, construction sector
professionals were asked to give insights around embodied carbon assessment
across projects. The 2023 results show that around 43% of respondents globally
report they make no measurement of embodied carbon on projects. Even if carbon
is being assessed, there is little evidence to suggest that it is having an
impact on the choice of materials and components. To achieve targets,
measurement must become common practice.
This could link to investors seeing high initial costs as the most
significant hindrance to investment in green buildings. Meanwhile, nearly a
third of industry professionals state that the lack of common standards and
definitions of green buildings is a crucial obstacle to further investment.
Furthermore, clarifying new UK energy performance certificates (EPC)
standards for commercial real estate is essential to boost investment into
energy efficiency measures and create greener buildings.
Tina Paillet, President Elect at RICS, said: "The latest RICS global
sustainability report reveals that the UK is among the leading nations for
positive sentiment in sustainable real estate. However, the research indicates
that several bottlenecks, such as ongoing uncertainty surrounding EPC reform,
are slowing down investment, while the UK should take greater steps to catch up
with the European average.
“The built environment contributes 40% of the world’s carbon emissions. We
cannot tackle global emissions without substantially reducing embodied and
operational emissions from buildings and infrastructure. Because of this, RICS
continues to develop its green standards for the sector, such as the recently
developed Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) to guide the industry in a
direction that supports greater sustainability and decarbonisation. What we can
measure, we can then manage –understanding the scale and scope of emissions is
a key first step. Sustainability is much wider than carbon emissions, and RICS
will continue to support professionals through our range of standards, existing
and in development.”
