Why real estate investors can make a real difference to climate change

The built environment is a major contributor to global carbon emissions, which means real estate investors can make a huge difference to climate change. Kristina Foster, Fund Manager, Real Estate Debt, at Schroders Capital, explains how…

Climate change and its potential costs to mankind made headlines again last week. What was new was the clarity of the message putting changes to the planet’s climate down to the human race.

The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) place climate change firmly on our doorstep, and has demanded a global response. Indeed, the opening line in the report's assessment of the climate could scarcely be clearer.

It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. As real estate investors, we are uniquely empowered to make meaningful change. Some 42 per cent of the UK’s carbon footprint and 38 per cent of all CO2 emissions globally come from the built environment.

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