Green & Sustainable Finance
The “Building Transition: How to Scale and Finance an Inclusive Transition for the Built Environment” report released on 13 Nov. 2024 focuses on the 75% of lower-performing buildings that have not yet adopted green building practices.
The initiative, led by the UK’s Building Research Establishment (BRE), the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and Alliance HQE-GBC France, seeks to close the gap between top performers and the rest of the market.
With the building sector accounting for a significant share of global emissions, unlocking investments for the underperforming majority is seen as a crucial step in decarbonising at scale. This call to action lays out how to attract capital to this large untapped segment, ensuring that decarbonisation happens across the entire built environment – not just in the elite tier of buildings.
The new call to action builds on the earlier report (found below), “Financing Transformation: A Guide to Green Building for Green Bonds and Green Loans” which outlined how green building certifications – such as LEED, BREEAM, Green Star, Green Mark, and HQE – can set the benchmark for sustainable investments. This new report expands the conversation to ensure that financing solutions are inclusive, enabling more building owners to access the funds needed to make meaningful improvements.
The Financing Transformation: A Guide to Green Building for Green Bonds and Green Loans publication was launched by an international alliance of world leading green building rating system organisations as the first global practical guide to facilitate the $35 trillion investment needed by 2030 to meet global energy transition goals.
The publication details how various building verification and certification standards can be used to comply with global classifications and bond frameworks, setting a trajectory for the global built environment to meet a sustainable 1.5°C climate threshold.
This guide is designed to assist institutional investors and financial institutions in effectively integrating green building certifications into financial instruments, empowering them to make informed investment decisions that align with sustainability goals. It also serves as a valuable resource for owners and developers of green buildings seeking new capital sources, offering insights on how to align their projects with green finance requirements.