Sustainable Investing

ESG due diligence is not just about risk mitigation. It can also help investment managers stand out from the crowd, according to Cortland’s Cassandra McFadden.

Net zero is just one part of the sustainability story. So, where else are real estate investors focusing when it comes to ESG improvements?

The increasing focus on sustainability is not limited to developed markets. Emerging markets are also picking up and implementing green principles.

Communities take center stage as investors engage with local stakeholders and act on occupant wellbeing, data from the Fitwel benchmark shows.

Decarbonization is mission-critical for private real estate. But ESG professionals in the industry say they are too stressed and overworked to achieve meaningful change.

More attention is being paid to the carbon emitted during an asset’s construction, but a lack of standardization around data collection is still holding back these efforts.

Efforts to decarbonize real estate assets need to begin with careful benchmarking, says PIMCO Prime Real Estate’s Raphael Mertens.

Sustainable real estate strategies that work with stakeholder communities are well-positioned to mitigate risks and can also create long-term asset value, argue Manulife’s Erin Patterson, Onay Payne and Regan Smith.

Rising demand for data centers, driven by artificial intelligence, poses significant sustainability problems. Could expanding into emerging markets help the sector clean up its act?

Both have made great strides toward sustainability of late. So why is private real estate still packing less of a punch against established benchmarks?