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Sustainable built environments for everyone, everywhere 4 WorldGBC’s call to action to the European finance and real estate sectors Don’t wait, invest In light of the climate, energy and resource crises, there is no excuse for inaction: stakeholders in the finance and real estate sectors need to invest in the transition towards a decarbonised built environment. Financial actors should make use of existing data, tools, frameworks and best practice in the market to inform their decision-making. The EU and its Member States are developing comprehensive sustainable finance policies, most prominently the EU Taxonomy that started taking effect in 2021. The EU Taxonomy and other key policies are still works-in-progress and a lack of clarity and data poses difficulties in implementing the policies. Real estate and financial actors do not need to wait to take action until more clarity is given – they should use existing resources to guide their financial decisions towards a sustainable built environment, such as robust voluntary frameworks. Investments in no-regret measures that follow the energy efficiency first principle and take a whole life cycle approach can be taken now despite a perceived lack of data. Preparing the shift of finance flows and financial activities towards a sustainable built environment runs along three key pillars: Roadmaps and voluntary frameworks pave the way Evidence suggests that financial markets are increasingly directing their investments towards projects and companies that guarantee the achievement of social and environmental development goals – in addition to economic profitability. However, there is still confusion in the market on what short term actions to take, how to develop mid to long term decarbonisation pathways and how to demonstrate progress towards set targets. Green Building Councils in 10 European countries have published National Decarbonisation Roadmaps to guide the transition of the sector. These roadmaps, produced under the WorldGBC #BuildingLife project, clearly set out short, medium and long term actions. They are an invaluable resource for investors seeking clear, actionable guidance to start making immediate carbon reductions. Disclose Set targets Implement portfolio data and information towards a zero emission, resilient and circular built environment no-regrets actions to have first impacts, kick-start the learning curve, and build and/or increase institutional capacities. National or regional roadmaps (like those in the #BuildingLife campaign) can help identify these actions
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Sustainable built environments for everyone, everywhere 5 Finland Ireland UK Poland Germany France Italy Spain Figure 1: Overview of 10 BuildingLife national roadmaps to decarbonise the built environment. Complementary to national roadmaps, voluntary frameworks, like GBC-run sustainable building certification schemes, can guide sustainable actions and the shift to sustainable finance. Voluntary frameworks allow a common language amongst stakeholders such as between architects, construction companies, manufacturing companies, investors and funders. The use of voluntary frameworks is key to showcase action by front-runners and to demonstrate progress towards targets – especially when closely linked to policies (e.g. compatible methods, tools and data). First evidence suggests a correlation between EU taxonomy eligibility and voluntary certification schemes: certified projects seem to have a higher rate of eligibility in comparison with non-certified projects, both for the climate change mitigation and the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) criteria of the EU taxonomy 1 . 1 DGNB, DK-GBC, GBCe, ÖGNI, 2021. EU Taxonomy Study: Evaluating the market readiness of the EU taxonomy criteria for buildings.
