The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) will award 90 listed property companies in Europe prizes for excellence reporting against the EPRA Sustainability Best Practice Recommendations (sBPRs) at the EPRA Annual Conference 2020 on 8 September, hosted digitally by the association.
2020 has seen an increase of more than one quarter (25%) in the number of European listed property companies presented with an award since last year, the association said, after handing out 70 gongs last September.
Of those who have received an award, 62 were awarded gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze. Some 22 members won an award for the first time this year and 44% of members to win an award had a market capitalization under €1 bn, a signal that correlation between reporting and market size has been vanishing over the years, and the sector is moving together towards greater transparency, according to EPRA.
Dominique Moerenhout, EPRA CEO, said: 'Obviously, the industry and global economy have experienced major challenges in the past 12 months, but the increase in the number of businesses conducting sustainability reporting, and doing it well, gives us at EPRA hope that the current Covid-19 crisis will only elevate the importance of sustainability commitments in this industry.'
EPRA suggested that the widespread uptake in sustainability reporting was an indication of the real estate industry’s growing commitment to helping investors and stakeholders understand its role in contributing to and tackling societal and climate change challenges.
Matthew Tippett, national director JLL said: '2020 marks our ninth year supporting EPRA with the sBPR Awards. In what has been an unprecedented year for many reasons, we are thrilled to announce that more than half of EPRA’s membership received an award for their sustainability reporting, a significant achievement reflecting the momentum towards ESG and greater transparency across the sector.'
