Sustainability Matters: Your regular wrap of all things ESG on EG

Welcome to Sustainability Matters, a new regular update from EG featuring some of our latest coverage of all things ESG, to make sure that you and your business is up to date with the latest news, views and opinions about all that is important in the world of ESG in the built environment. These, as you will be reading almost every day, are unprecedented times. While over the past 18 months we have seen the climate crisis move further up the news agenda, since the beginning of this year a new crisis has become front and centre of all operations around the world. The coronavirus has undoubtedly changed how we operate today, and it will undoubtedly change how we operate tomorrow. But, while Covid-19 brings with it great tragedy, there will also be some positive lessons to take away from the pandemic. Lessons that will enable us to learn more about the environment in which we live, work and play, and how to look after it. Knock-on effects  Already we have seen that the forced slowdown in travel by air and car is showing significant improvements in air quality and greenhouse emissions are falling. Business are learning that they can communicate across the country and across the world virtually, which, hopefully, in the long term will see less corporate travel and a continuing focus on improving our air quality and protecting the planet. According to the latest data from the Better Buildings Partnership, businesses are already making big steps towards improving their environment credentials – especially around energy usage. Its annual Real Estate Environmental Benchmark initiative, which has been gathering data since 2010/11 and this year includes more than 1,000 commercial properties covering 11.7m sq m of space, found that energy intensity across those assets has reduced by 25% since 2010/11. If this is combined with the impact of grid decarbonisation, carbon intensity has reduced by an impressive 47%. But as BBP chief executive Sarah Ratcliffe says, there is still a mountain to climb. “Until the industry gets to grips with the actual energy performance of properties, it will not have a sound understanding of the size of the challenge it faces in moving towards net zero carbon buildings – or, indeed, the size of the prize to be gained by focusing on reducing demand and improving efficiency first.” And with all of us now working from home, focusing on our domestic energy usage must also be something we have to get to grips with, which is something that Barny Evans, head of sustainable places, energy and waste at WSP, looks at in this piece about GHG emissions reporting. We will have to address the increasingly blurred world of home and work in a post-Covid environment. To find out more about how property can respond responsibly to the coronavirus outbreak, have a listen to the latest podcast with EG’s sustainability partners Hammerson, Evora Global, Derwent London and the BBP below. Keep on track Elsewhere in the world of sustainability we have seen CBRE Global Investors join the growing ranks of firms using ESG-linked debt, and Team EG has taken a look at just how green the UK’s major regional cities really are All of EG’s sustainability content is available for you to access on our dedicated sustainability hub.  And make sure to tune in to EG’s Twitter or LinkedIn page on 22 April to join us for Sustainability Live, a live-streamed virtual conference in which we will be looking at how the built environment must act responsibly.  We will be discussing everything from the lessons we have learnt so far through both best and worst practice, looking at how important the social aspect of ESG is in creating sustainable business and places, investigating the power of diversity in all its forms when it comes to sustainable development – be that biodiversity, diversity of thought and tenant diversity – and, of course, we’ll be leaving you with some key takeaways, a look to the future and how we can make sure sustainability retains its importance in business despite a slowdown.