Europe lags on cutting energy consumption - GRESB

European property companies and funds trail behind their peers in other world regions when it comes to reducing their energy consumption, according to the latest research by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB).

Despite the continued focus of EU regulators on the built environment, Europe saw only a small decrease in energy consumption (-0.7%) over the 2011-2012 period. This compares with a decrease of 6.6% for North America, where greenhouse gas emissions fell 4.8% over the same period, the GRESB report found.

The GRESB research is based on sustainability data gathered from 543 property companies and funds, providing aggregate information on 49,000 properties across the globe.

The findings show that on a global basis, the real estate industry has 'significantly' reduced the environmental impact of its activities over the past two years.

Energy consumption fell by 4.8% over 2011-2012, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 163,000 homes. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.5%, while global water consumption dropped by 1.2%.

GRESB said its findings demonstrate a 'clear and upward' trend in sustainability performance of the global real estate industry. In 2013, 119 property companies and funds achieved the ‘Green Star’ status for managing and implementing key sustainability issues, of which around half were in Europe.

Australia continues to lead sustainability performance worldwide, whereas performance differences between Asia, Europe, and North America are becoming smaller.

The survey further found that sustainability is increasingly being integrated into day-to-day business decision-making, with over 80% of participants involving senior management in the reviewing and monitoring of sustainability processes.

All participants now perform sustainability risk assessments, both for standing investments and for new acquisitions. This sharply contrasts with the results for 2012 when only 60% of participants performed sustainability risk assessments.

Click on the link below for the article 'Half of Green Stars are in Europe' which contains more European findings from the 2013 GRESB report. This article is available to premium subscribers only.