For commercial assets , it ’ s encouraging to see the results of the Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets ( GRESB ) real estate assessment which considers 117,000 assets from 1,520 property owners ( REITs , funds , developers ) around the world . This survey benchmarks ESG data points including emissions , waste , energy and water consumption , with Oceania leading the way for both standing investments and new development .
While commercial property may be advanced in the areas of ESG , the recently announced Green Future Index for 2022 saw Australia slide down to 52 ( of the 76 countries involved ) from 35 last year and labelled a “ climate laggard ”, showing slow or uneven progress towards building a green future . When considering the highly rated countries , we see they have robust strategies surrounding changes to clean energy and reduced emissions . The Australian government has shown commitment to these initiatives , in particular renewable energy resources , but greater work needs to be done to swiftly move towards our targets to improve sustainability for Australia .
With homes generating at least one fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions in Australia , there ’ s significant opportunity for these ESG principles to move into the residential sector to help achieve these targets and provide residents with more energy and water efficient homes , saving on energy costs and future environmental impacts .
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