Occupiers back on ESG track as COP 26 talks imminent

The Covid pandemic may have diverted attention from ESG concerns but the distraction has been temporary according to Tom Carroll, head of EMEA corporate research and strategy at JLL.

“What we’re seeing is that the proportion of occupiers adopting net zero carbon targets is expected to more than double between now and 2025,” he told Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts. “We’re seeing an ever increasing number of commitments made at a corporate level and that will only accelerate as we move towards COP26 later in the year in Glasgow.”

Carroll said that in addition to making these commitments occupiers are linking their net zero carbon objectives with their real estate strategy. “That is a complex and multi-faceted thing to do, but we’ve seen an incredible amount of focus now on really designing strategies and beginning to implement the specific steps required to achieve those commitments.”

As real estate is responsible for 40% of carbon emissions any organization looking to achieve net zero carbon needs to take a root and branch review of their real estate, he added.

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