Green Value in Real Estate: Setting the Agenda

Industry and academia have woken up to the idea that there may be economic value in “greening” commercial real estate. Indeed, recent research suggests that energy efficient office buildings command higher rents, have lower vacancy rates, and higher market values relative to otherwise comparable conventional office buildings. However, energy efficient (or: sustainable) buildings are still a very small minority of the total buildings stock, so their cumulative impact on the reduction of global energy consumption is currently negligible. This needs to change if our societies seriously consider reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.