“Climate risk is the biggest disruptor to established cities,” writes Guy Grainger, global head of sustainability services and ESG at JLL, in the firm’s May 2022 report, Decarbonising Cities and Real Estate.

The report identifies five key implications for real estate:

Policy and regulations are lagging the science. City governments across the globe are setting bold commitments to move to a net-zero economy. They are introducing a vast array of “carrot-and-stick” policy instruments to decarbonise buildings. The science, however, is telling us we need to push harder and with real urgency. Buildings are critical to the energy transition. Decarbonising and electrifying the built environment will be vital to delivering a sustainable net-zero carbon global economy. Across the 32 global cities surveyed in the report, buildings account for a sizeable 60 percent of overall emissions, and for more than 70 per