EPRA: Awards show property committing to sustainability

Europe’s listed property companies are getting better at sustainability reporting it seems. This week 90 of them will receive awards for their efforts. Presentations will be made during the annual conference of EPRA, the European Public Real Estate Association which is being hosted online.

The number of companies receiving EPRA’s award for sustainability reporting is up 25%, the association said.

In a statement it added: “The widespread uptake in sustainability reporting is an indication of the real estate industry’s growing commitment to helping investors and stakeholders understand its role in contributing to and tackling societal and climate change challenges.”

Sector becoming more transparent

EPRA said that the sector is “moving together towards greater transparency.”  It says this is indicated because 44% of the award winners have a capitalisation under €1 billion, “a clear signal that correlation between reporting and market size has been vanishing over the years.”

EPRA CEO Dominique Moerenhout said: “Obviously, the industry and global economy have experienced major challenges in the past 12 months, but the increase in the number of businesses conducting sustainability reporting, and doing it well, gives us at EPRA hope that the current COVID-19 crisis will only elevate the importance of sustainability commitments in this industry.”