CBRE South Asia, a unit of the global real estate firm CBRE Group [CBRE:US], released a report that outlined the companies’ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies in India and introduced the ESG landscape of India’s property industry, as reported by APN News on March 4. The report evaluated data from the top six cities in India, namely National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai. The green real estate assets in these cities reached 220m square feet as of September 2021, from that of 80m square feet in 2011. It also shows that the share of green properties in total office stock across the six cities has grown to 31% from 24% in 2011.

Green buildings refer to real estate assets that use resources efficiently and provide more sustainability than convention buildings by using renewable energy, recycled water, natural cooling, and other eco-friendly designs. According to the World Green Building Council, buildings account for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions, 28% of which come from energy consumption for heating, cooling, and appliance usage, and 11% from materials and construction. CBRE stressed that ESG principles are indispensable to its business strategy as the construction industry is facing unprecedented social and environmental challenges. As one of the ten most vulnerable nations to climate risks, India has placed increased focus on sustainability in the real estate industry. According to the US Green Building Council, India had 2.8m gross area square meters of buildings and spaces that received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications by 2021, ranking third worldwide.

Sources:

https://www.apnnews.com/cbre-publishes-its-first-report-highlighting-indian-real-estates-esg-landscape/

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/delhi-ncr-bengaluru-have-most-green-office-buildings-says-cbre

https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/global-corporate-real-estates-role-in-the-esg-agenda-2021

https://www.constructionweekonline.in/business/india-ranks-number-3-in-top-10-countries-regions-for-leed-green-building