Institutions drive adoption of ESG for Polish real estate

When looking at Poland’s approach to ESG it is important to distinguish the government’s attitude and that of the commercial property market, according to Justyna Kedzierska Klukowska, head of Berlin Hyp’s Warsaw Office.

“At the governmental level there’s quite a lot of politics in it,” she said, adding that there is considerable debate and there are likely to be changes.

“From our perspective what is most interesting is the real estate market where we are seeing huge awareness of the ESG direction,” she told Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts.

The more rigorous application of ESG criteria by developers has been driven by the demands of institutions, she added.

Throughout CEE, the average age of stock is lower so even improving the ESG credentials of an “older” building is more a question of capex than major redevelopment.

Click on the video to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.