More than half of M&G’s real estate funds have completed or are close to finishing studies into their “net-zero pathways”, the investment house said in its 2023 annual report. However, the firm has underlined the challenges of getting to grips with the sustainability metrics of its assets, restating 2022’s emissions from its portfolio after acknowledging that it had counted emissions for some assets twice.
The firm said its real estate assets recorded a decrease in absolute emissions over the course of 2023, with a 13% fall in scope 1 and 2 emissions offsetting a rise in scope 3. On the latter, M&G said: “Scope 3 emissions have increased due to a higher energy consumption across the assets occupied and run by tenants as activity has continued to pick up post-Covid. Real estate emissions have been restated in the year to reflect that some emissions for certain assets were included twice in 2022.”
The firm said its real estate equity business has been using desk-based decarbonisation modelling for direct real estate investments, with the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor its tool of choice.
