Even as some politicians continue to argue about whether climate change is genuine, real estate investors have concluded that the debate is over. If you want your assets to be saleable, you need to make an assessment of their exposure to climate change.
Climate change impact estimates are now so important that the fourth edition of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) sustainability guidelines in the United Kingdom, called ESG and Sustainability – Commercial Property Valuation, now includes very specific instructions about how to measure the impact of physical climate risk and risk mitigation measures on the value of an asset. “There is no blurriness anymore,” says Sandra Fives, chief strategy officer and director of ESG strategy at Catalyst, a consultancy serving the global real estate industry.
But understanding that you need to face climate risk is one thing. Deciding what to do about it is another. A recent MSCI survey of around 11,00
