Real estate
Real estate

Understanding carbon neutrality and its impact on European core real estate

November 5, 2021 | 6 min read
Giles Smith
Head of fund management, Real Estate Europe
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Real estate’s environmental impact is significant. In the European Union, buildings are responsible for 40% of overall energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, much of which is generated from the construction and operation of properties.1

At the same time, three out of four EU buildings are considered energy inefficient.1

Core real estate investors have demonstrated a desire to change these dynamics and continue to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors a top priority.

Achieving carbon neutrality has been a particularly high priority, as organisations are increasingly committing to reducing their carbon footprint. This goal has already altered the landscape and will only become a higher priority for more businesses, governments, and investors. The number of real estate companies and investment funds focused on carbon neutrality continues to increase at a rapid pace, accelerated by the European Commission’s adoption of regulations last year aimed at achieving net zero carbon by 2050.2

But not all approaches to carbon neutrality are equal. Business leaders are often quick to agree to long-term carbon reduction goals without a full understanding of implementation at the individual property level.

To understand exactly how a company or fund plans to meet their stated carbon reduction goals, investors should be prepared to ask several important questions when evaluating intiatives and measuring results.

Definitions matter

One of the biggest obstacles to understanding a carbon reduction programme’s impact is a lack of a uniform definition and consistent approach to carbon neutrality. The path by which funds achieve carbon neutrality can vary greatly depending on what activities are pursued, such as emissions reduction via operational improvements versus purchasing environmental attribute certificates (EACs) and carbon offsets.

While the term “carbon neutrality” can be loosely applied to a wide array of practices, it’s essentially a commitment to balancing GHG emissions through a combination of emissions-reductions activities and the purchase of EACs and carbon offsets.

There are, however, many more considerations to take into account when trying to understand how a firm or fund is moving toward this goal. You’ll find them below.

Carbon neutrality: Five key questions for core fund due diligence:
  1. What emission sources are included?
  2. How is the fund’s carbon footprint measured?
  3. What types of emissions reductions count toward a target?
  4. Are tenants actively engaged and included in the target?
  5. What processes are in place to identify energy efficiency and renewable energy? Opportunities?

Emission criteria: What’s included?

Often, sustainability reports will include carbon neutral claims front and center—but with scant details around how exactly carbon neutrality will be achieved.

An investor should also understand which emissions are included to accurately assess the quality of a carbon neutrality goal.

There are two main categories of emissions: direct and indirect (See Exhibit 1). Direct GHG emissions (Scope 1) are from company-owned sources, such as heating fuel, gas in company vehicles, or leakage from refrigerants. Indirect GHG emissions (Scopes 2 and 3) can come from the consumption of purchased electricity or a company’s activities outside of its control, such as employee travel or tenant emissions.

Understanding which of these emissions are counted can be critical to understanding a company’s true carbon footprint and reduction goals.

For example, a real estate portfolio that excludes tenant energy consumption from its footprint could easily overlook the vast majority of emissions occurring within its properties.

In addition, a business could theoretically measure its emissions and then buy carbon offsets the next day and claim to be carbon neutral without verifying the quality of the offsets or making any attempts to reduce operational emissions.

While technically the business would be carbon neutral—because they are balancing emissions with offsets—this is not nearly as impactful, or defensible to investors, as taking steps to increase energy performance through operational improvements. Therefore, a savvy investor should care not just about which emissions are included in the footprint, but also the source of emissions reductions and how it changes over time.

Exhibit 1: Overview of a company's activities associated emissions, and their scopes, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard

Infographic overview of a company's activities associated emissions, and their scopes, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, March 2004

The importance of tenant engagement

On average, the total emission from a property comes mostly from tenant activities. In some instances, such as with warehouses, nearly 100% of emissions are from the tenant.

But a large number of emissions reduction claims from property owners don’t account for tenant spaces by only counting certain tenant emissions or not counting these emissions at all.

While this might have been acceptable in the past, stakeholders now expect tenant activities to be captured. Some would argue that if a property owner isn’t trying to influence tenant emissions, then they are likely not carrying out an effective carbon reduction programme at all.

For any successful carbon reduction strategy, tenants must work openly and in-line with owners for targets to be met.

Engaging tenants early on—whether through a detailed survey on carbon neutrality issues or an assessment to determine what ESG considerations are most important to the tenant—will help ensure an ongoing partnership to meet stated goals for the business and tenant. Ultimately, this type of engagement helps investors and other stakeholders have a better understanding of a property’s carbon footprint.

Asset-level data is key

When evaluating the carbon reduction programme for a company or fund, data availability is critical. Identifying data gaps, making estimates where possible, and having a plan to improve coverage over time are all important evaluation tools.

It’s one thing to make a broad carbon neutrality claim, but it’s another thing entirely to back up that claim with a complete data set.

Access to tenant utility data can be particularly challenging, especially in a triple net lease arrangement where the tenant is paying their own bills. However, getting access to high-quality property-level data—whether through tenant outreach, metering solutions, or working directly with utilities—is necessary to prioritise improvements and track progress.

A complete data set of whole-building energy data also allows businesses to more accurately measure their GHG emissions, set and achieve meaningful carbon reduction targets, and monitor progress over time.

Many core funds in this space have little access to this type of data, even as it is a key foundational element to any successful carbon reduction programme. Investors should be wary of any fund or business without access to a robust and accurate data set.

Exhibit 2: Principal Real Estate- A history of responsible property investing

Infographic of the history of responsible property investing for Principal Real Estate.

Effective programmes are a win for all stakeholders

ESG policies and initiatives, including the implementation of carbon neutrality proposals, will continue to be a top priority for investors, occupiers, and landlords. We believe the transition to a lower carbon economy begins at the individual property level and that prioritising high-impact operational emissions reductions will help create measurable change.

In addition to improving environmental performance, core funds that implement effective carbon neutrality programmes can reduce operating costs, ultimately benefiting investors. Moreover, a rapidly changing regulatory landscape, driven by the exploration of new topics such as embodied carbon, will continue to impact carbon footprints.

As this landscape evolves, we as a firm remain focused on our own sustainable business practices. These include assessing our impact to the climate and adopting responsible investing policies, as stated in our Pillars of Responsible Property Investing (PRPI) initiative.

Effective carbon reduction programmes will improve the performance and value of properties and ultimately help redefine the relationship between real estate and carbon. We believe that funds with a well-defined programme focused on true propertylevel emissions reduction will emerge as the beneficiaries in this environment.

1 https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/focus-energy-efficiency-buildings-2020-feb-17_en
2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:d84ec73c-c773-11eb-a925-01aa75ed71a1.0021.02/DOC_1&format=PDF
3 Performance band score of “A+” by earning 50 out of 51 maximum points in the PRI 2020 assessment. For further details, please refer to the PRI Assessment Methodology, Principal Global Investors full Assessment Report and Transparency Report, all of which is available upon request.
4 2021 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) assessment, data as of 31 December 2020. Rating represents top 40% worldwide performance.
5 2020 CDP Climate Change Response, data as of 31 December 2019.
6 Each year, the EPA honors organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. April 2022, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Third party rankings and recognitions are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results.
7 Presented by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Alliance, the Green Lease Leaders designation exhibits a strong commitment to increased performance and sustainability in buildings, 8 June 2020.

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Risk Warnings
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