On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day marked on 22 April 2020, as the pandemic continues to cast a dark shadow, there is a "green" light at the end of the tunnel and the crisis may help reshape the real estate sector's strategies around environmental, social and governance issues.
The extraordinary crash in oil prices (meaning possibly more green infrastructure), the outperformance of ESG assets and the strength in green bonds are all reasons and economic drivers for green growth and sustainability.
Today's EG's live sustainability stream was particularly insightful and engaging with discussions around how the sector needs to respond from a ESG perspective and how the "S" in ESG will become even more critical. The question around social value in real estate (which was discussed at a Howard Kennedy Economic Breakfast briefing on last year that I had the privilege of chairing) ties in very closely.
The key question that arises is whether this shift in priorities will come naturally following the crisis or whether we will see further changes in the law to engage businesses around ESG issues and communities and citizens in action for our climate and environment.
The rise of sustainable investment over the past decade is also a cause for optimism. Environmental, social and governance and impact investing have grown by 34% worldwide since 2016, reaching assets of more than $30tn (£24tn) at the start of 2018. The pace of issuance in green bonds has also exceeded expectations, with $1tn in annual green investment in sight in 2020. As of early April, the S&P 500 ESG Index is also outperforming the S&P 500 benchmark by 2.47%. This provides increasing evidence that capital is flowing more readily to sustainable assets and this could accelerate further with the right economic stimulus in place.
https://www.egi.co.uk/news/can-crisis-recovery-measures-lay-the-building-blocks-for-a-sustainable-future/
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