Competition for resources could slow decarbonisation

The real estate industry has been slow to take up the cause of decarbonisation and when it finally accepts the rationale for scaling up the current efforts, the main issue will be shortage of materials.

So says Jani Nokkanen, partner and CIO at Nordic property company NREP.

“People are talking about decarbonisation and it is the cities’ and municipalities’ agenda to get decarbonised by 2030 or 2040 and they’re asking how we do it. My answer is that we have all the technology already, we have the capital and it makes financial sense, so it’s not a question of can we do it,” Nokkanen said.  

“Why are we not scaling up? That’s the question,” he added. “Our industry is unfortunately very slow.”

He said that people ask if we are making a trade-off between profits and decarbonisation. “The answer is no, we are not.”

He said that decarbonisation makes financial sense but by the time that people realise that it can and should be done, “I think the next question will be where do we get all the materials and the workforce?”

“We are already late. This should have started already years ago and now people are picking up with all the issues, climate crisis is getting more and more tangible, so people are waking up and starting to take action. Soon we will be asking how can we speed up?”