Transform Business Outcomes

ESG & Sustainability Consultancy

Make business critical decisions by managing sustainability risk in your portfolios. Advising on the property lifecycle and helping you build your sustainable future.

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How are your real estate choices affecting your impact on the world?

Responsible business means understanding your impact and taking action. Our data and insights provide unmatched intelligence to help you make better decisions when it comes to the buildings you occupy, your assets and supply chain.

  • Baselining your end to end environmental, social value and wellbeing performance and undertaking impact assessment.
  • Benchmarking your performance against legislation, industry, peers and leaders.
  • Data and analytics that power action and forward-thinking ideas. Our thought leadership and innovation will help you to accelerate your progress.

How does your ESG strategy contribute to your business success?

Our dedication to the success of our clients has helped us build lifelong partnerships with investors, landlords and occupiers. We are uniquely positioned to collaborate across sectors and to anticipate our clients strategic needs.

  • Ensure your real estate strategy aligns to your purpose, corporate identity and to the demands of your customers.
  • Help mitigate the climate crisis and protect the resilience of your business.
  • Net Zero strategies to reduce, mitigate and offset your climate impact.
  • Energy optimisation and procurement strategies to reduce cost and manage risk.
  • Zero Waste and other resource-based strategies to improve efficiency.
  • Attract and retain the best talent, making the most of your incredible people through tailored health and wellbeing strategies.
  • Social value assessments and plans to connect you to the communities within which you operate.

How can CBRE help you reach your ESG & Sustainability targets?

Do you know how to deliver simple integrated ESG solutions?

We build innovative climate, social value and wellbeing solutions that deliver transformational outcomes for the environment and people.

  • ESG solutions to support every stage of the property life cycle including acquisition, development, management and disposal of properties. Action plans at the portfolio, property and asset level.
  • Integrate ESG requirements and ambitions into business and portfolio strategy to help you to secure investment.
  • Leverage the value chain, using your purchasing power to encourage positive change. We support smart supplier decisions that shape the way services are delivered while also managing risk.
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European Regulation Mapping Tool

CBRE’s mapping tool provides a general overview of the risks and opportunities that are related to European Regulation through the lens of energy and carbon, as well as potential impact on real estate decision-making.

Related Insights

  • sustainable office building

    Overview



    CBRE’s third edition of the ‘Is Sustainability Certification in Real Estate Worth it?’ research report focuses on how office sustainability certifications impact value creation, but also the role they are playing in making the office sector future fit.


    This report aims to enhance the availability of data and insight into the relationship between sustainability and value in real estate, one of the sectors with the greatest potential to contribute to reducing carbon emissions. This transparency is important to real estate decision makers looking to financially justify action to meet sustainability targets.



    Results



    Conclusions presented in this report show a significant correlation between sustainability certificates and buildings’ market value.



    The key highlights from the report are:





    1. Property owners and investors continue to pursue environmental certifications for their office properties. In the markets analysed, the certified share stands at 22% as at H1 2023, compared with 15% in 2019. Decision-making regarding certifications seems to happen later in the building development process, which reflects property owners’ considerations regarding potential changes in occupier and investor preferences, as well as legislation.









    2. Certified office take-up has risen from 31% of the market in 2019, to 34% as at H1 2023, confirming the trend that sustainability is an important factor for occupiers in building selection. However, the local office supply composition restricts the scope for occupiers to choose certified buildings. In the case of mature office markets, the process of certification for new and refurbished buildings in the most sought-after locations will take time, thus impacting the availability of certified stock.









    3. Certification can be a significant but not a determining factor in lowering vacancy risk. Balancing locational preferences with the sustainability agenda remains a challenge when committing to new space/location. In the short-term, the balance in the local markets will be influenced by the share of the certified space under construction. Across the sample, the certified share of the pipeline is a lot higher than the certified share of existing stock.









    4. There is an enduring benefit to rents from verifiable measures to reduce carbon emissions. When the effects of building size, location, age, and renovation history are accounted for, buildings with sustainability certifications command a 7% rental premium. The rental premium exists for certified office buildings, regardless of building year. Hence, certifying both new and existing buildings ensures higher office rents compared to non-certified stock.









    5. To allow for one-on-one comparison with our analysis conducted in 2022 (where the premium identified was 5.5%), we have conducted a separate analysis by limiting the sample to the same markets. For that sample, the regression model shows a 6.6% rental premium, which indicates positive development in the rental premium year-over-year.











    6. Assets with lower EPC ratings generate on average lower rental levels than assets with better ratings. Countries where there is a binding legislation related to energy performance of office assets show a clearer underperformance of lower EPC ratings. In line with occupiers increasingly targeting the most energy efficient stock, property owners that invest early in retrofitting their portfolio stand to benefit the most in the long-term.







    Context, Data Description and Method



    The report covers 19 European countries and 40 cities. CBRE studied 19,400 lease agreements – of which 6,100 leases occurred in certified buildings and 13,300 leases occurred in non‑certified buildings.



    Get in touch to discuss our results and help you with the opportunities presented by the findings.

  • Article | Creating Resilience

    European Residential Regulatory Tool

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    The tool allows you to compare Residential regulations between countries, find details on taxes, rent indexation, rent price regulation, lease regulation, legal dynamics, social governance and zoning.