It is hoped that the United Nations’ climate change summit in December 2015 will stimulate a renewed drive for sustainability in the European real estate sector. At the summit in Paris, representatives from around 200 countries will meet with the aim of sealing a new legally-binding agreement on climate change.

In advance of the negotiations, each country has been invited to submit its own emissions reduction pledge, officially known as an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). The European Union’s INDC commits the EU, on behalf of its 28 member states, to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of “at least 40 percent” by 2030, against 1990 levels.

The 40 percent pledge represents a significant progression beyond its current undertaking of a 20–30 percent emissions reduction by 2020 but is in line with an existing EU objective to cut greenhouse gases by 80–95 percent by 2050, again using 1990 levels as a baseline. The EU intends to review its