Global office stock is trailing the most ambitious of cities’ environmental ambitions, warns Savills in a new report.
Many major cities face what the agency called “a significant disconnect” between the net-zero targets of their local authorities and the green credentials of existing real estate.
Savills pointed to San José, Oslo (pictured) and Berlin as having some of the most ambitious net-zero goals, but said less than a fifth of their office stock is certified “green” under LEED, BREEAM and WELL-certifications.
The figure is higher in cities including Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Warsaw, each of which has more than 40% of total office stock certified “green”. Savills said more than 70% of existing stock globally will ultimately need to be retrofitted.
Paul Tostevin, director at Savills World Research, said: “There has been a big increase in demand for offices to publish their operational carbon emissions; however, our analysis shows that, proportionally, the amount of certified ‘green’ stock in many cities is still pretty small.
“There are therefore opportunities for real estate developers and investors to grow the amount of certified office stock, not least because many of these locations are facing increasingly stringent regulation by city authorities setting ambitious net-zero targets.”
To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@eg.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @EGPropertyNews
Click here to take part in EG’s ESG Data Survey
