Acknowledging the profound link between the built environment and sustainability, there is growing demand for transformative change in the real estate sector. As climate impacts intensify, investors, regulators, and tenants are driving the sector toward decarbonization on a pathway consistent with the Paris Climate Agreement. More recently, the threat of rapid biodiversity loss has led to calls for real estate companies to account for biodiversity risks and reduce impacts as urban populations expand. Spurred by the 2020 murder of George Floyd, there is also mounting pressure to dismantle social injustices the built environment has historically perpetuated.
Verdani’s nonprofit, Verdani Institute for the Built Environment (VIBE), has published a new guidance report “Introduction to Sustainable Real Estate,” part of VIBE’s 12-part Sustainable Built Environment Guidance Report Series. Written for beginners and professionals alike, this report offers a condensed, birds-eye view of the topic of sustainable real estate, examining the connection between the built environment and some of the greatest environmental and social challenges of our time.
After discussing how the built environment contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality, the report explores what a sustainable built environment might look like, strategies to achieve it, and where we are already seeing progress. It also touches on the business case for sustainability, key drivers pushing commercial real estate toward environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, and challenges currently facing ESG and sustainable real estate.
Click here to read the guidance report.