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How Being Greener Can Give You a Competitive Advantage in 2022

Suzi Carter, a Chartered Surveyor with 25 years’ experience in the commercial and residential property sectors, comments

As I write, COP26 is happening in Glasgow and it has turned my mind to global warming and climate change and, particularly, its relevance to the commercial property sector.

Given the importance of this topic and the significance of it for ourselves and future generations, there is genuinely nothing else I could write about this month. If you watched David Attenborough’s impassioned plea to turn ‘tragedy into triumph’, and HM Queen’s desire for ‘statesmanship’ then I’m sure that you too will feel the urgency of the current situation.  

When we think about massive global issues it is easy to feel helpless in the face of the scale of the challenge. It is too straightforward to think that resolution is just the arena of governments and large corporations. Climate change is no exception in this. But the challenge is to change our thinking away from this being a ‘big’ issue, to an acceptance that we all have a part to play – no matter how small. And, sadly, the reality is that real estate does not play a small part in global warming. In fact, it has been quoted in some sources as the largest polluter of the atmosphere after the burning of fossil fuels, transportation and industry.  

Some big decisions have been made in Glasgow, with 100 countries (including Brazil) signing up to agree to end deforestation and restore natural forests by 2030; 100 nations agreeing to slash methane emissions by 30% by 2030; and 190 countries and organisations agreeing to end coal-fired power. In addition, significantly, Rishi Sunak has set out plans to impose requirements on all UK-listed companies to set out proposals to ‘transition’ towards net zero in the coming decades, with firms assessed annually against their published plans.  Those that fail to make enough progress, or whose plans are deemed too weak, could face sanctions including fines or even removal from the stock exchange.

Becoming greener is now not just the territory of ‘environmentalists’ - it is increasingly making total financial sense, and the early adopters of this will almost certainly obtain a competitive advantage.   

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