The GRESB Report for 2015 showed that the real estate sector it assesses – 61,000 assets worldwide worth $2.3 trillion – achieved a 3 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 50 percent increase in on-site renewable energy generation and a 19 percent improvement in overall ESG performance, according to the organization.
The report from the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark group illustrated better environmental performance in 2015. There was an average 3.04 percent reduction in GHG emissions, a 2.87 percent reduction in energy consumption and a 1.65 percent reduction in water use.
The study also found that renewables rose from 296 GWh in 2014 to 445 GWh this year. That is 0.5 percent of overall consumption. Australia and New Zealand were the leading nations.
The overall thrust of the GRESB report was echoed by a recent Deloitte study that found that 79 percent of building managers see reducing energy as a key to competition. More than half see cost cutting as a driving force in increasing efficiency and more than half generate electricity on site.
