The ULI’s UK annual conference 2022 held in London on Tuesday this week focussed on ESG 2030: The Future of Sustainable Real Estate.
It did so against a backdrop of suspicion that some members of the asset management industry might be making false or misleading statements about their environmental credentials, either deliberately as a marketing strategy for, say, a fund in market, or completely unintentionally.
The issue of so-called 'greenwashing' was almost immediately raised by Louise Ellison, who moderated the day’s proceedings.
Before introducing to the stage new ULI Europe chair, Lars Huber of Hines, the chief commercial officer at consultant Longevity Partners, said: ‘Some of the backlash is always going to be well placed, but the language that we use to talk about sustainability and climate change has changed over the years, and will continue to do so.’
‘It kind of misses the point. ESG and its concepts have been incredibly helpful in enabling the business community to focus on things that we really can do something about, and we can see in the context of our businesses, and particularly for us as a sector.’
‘It does have its challenges, but it is a very useful framework.’
Later in the morning, a panel session was held touching on the issue of greenwashing. Those taking part in 'E: greenwashing, KPIs, and how to actually make an impact' were Jeff Rupp, director of public affairs at INREV, John Davies, head of sustainability at UK Reit, Derwent London, and Julie Townsend, VP, ESG Lead for Europe and Asia Pacific at PGIM.
