CHICAGO, Nov. 28, 2023 – The current economic environment is creating challenges for investors and occupiers to make the case for investing in retrofitting and futureproofing their real estate. JLL’s new The Commercial Case for Making Buildings More Sustainable report outlines three key factors that should be prioritized in occupiers’ and owners’ decision-making to create a more resilient and sustainable built environment.

Although market forces driving investors and occupiers are moving faster than regulations right now, new legislation is on the horizon at an international, national and most stringently at a city level. Policies from 16 global cities covering carbon, energy, buildings circularity, biodiversity and resilience show a wide spectrum of commitment and action. For instance, ‘Climate Progressive’ cities such as New York, Paris and Amsterdam are rolling out an array of policy instructions covering new and existing commercial and real estate. New York has introduced several pioneering local laws, while Paris is taking the lead in considering embodied carbon and Singapore has set out a holistic approach to greening its buildings.

The damage caused by increasingly frequent and intense weather events is a mounting concern for real estate. Part of building a strong business case will involve understanding the risks of disruption to business operations and potential damage to buildings. One of the biggest challenges in assessing climate risk is the wide range of approaches and the lack of consensus on standardization. Some providers are thinking about value at risk in terms of insured value, others are looking at the change in asset value or replacement cost.

On Dec. 5, 2023, at 10am CT/11am ET/4pm GMT, JLL will host a webinar as part of COP28 to discuss findings from the report with an external panel of experts from ULI, Hines and Standard Chartered. To register, click the link here.