The real estate-building industry continues to pursue a wide range of sustainability goals which are pretty straight forward - reduce environmental impact, enhance social well-being, and drive long-term economic value - and often aligned with frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), green building certifications, and national climate commitments. such as the Paris Climate Accord. Reaching those goals takes a lot of work.
Buildings account for 37 percent of global energy-related emissions and represents $111 trillion in value – almost 200 percent of the GDP of all 38 OECD countries in Europe, North and South America, and Asia-Pacific, according to the OECD’s Dec 2025 report on Future-Proofing Real Estate Investment.
Making real estate more environmentally friendly requires sustainable practices in design, construction, and management of properties. In addition, maintenance plays an important role in supporting sustainable real estate: as buildings are large, expensive, and last for a long time, they are more often repaired than replaced. This is especially true in Europe, where government incentives to bring down the cost of repairs is an important lever in helping achieve the sector’s climate goals.
Portfolio Value
Given its value, real estate is a substantial financial asset in individual and corporate portfolios. Investors are increasingly cognizant of how environmental risks can affect the value of their real estate holdings, and thus demand information on a building’s history, its location, and any potential environmental threats lurking in its location. That demand is not surprising, considering the OECD forecasts that 1 in 25 homes in Australia could be uninsurable by 2030, while tn France, two heatwaves and droughts in the summer of 2025 are projected to cause EUR 10.1 billion in economic losses.
But maintaining that level of reporting may prove challenging in today’s political climate and changing landscape, including Congressional elections this year in the US and Presidential elections next year in France.
Political and Market Uncertainty
Bruno Blavier, Head of ESG Real Estate at Swiss Life, spoke with Reporting From Paris Editor in Chief Shellie Karabell at the European Sustainability Conference in Paris on May 19 about how ESG backlash and market uncertainty are reshaping the real estate sector’s approach to sustainability.
The European Sustainability Conference was presented by the European Sustainable Real Estate Initiative (ESREI).
