Preserve will enable the consistent assessment and measurement of climate transition impacts in real estate investment models

As part of its C Change programme, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe, together with sustainability analytics specialist Synergetic, are commencing the development of a new interactive tool that will enable the real estate industry to integrate climate transition into the financial models at the heart of investment decision making.

The free-to-use ULI Preserve tool will deliver a key aspect of ULI Europe’s ongoing C Change programme to mobilise the European real estate industry to urgently speed up decarbonisation, seeking to understand and eliminate the barriers.

The aim of this new tool is to allow the previously published ULI C Change Transition Risk Assessment Guidelines to be adopted at scale in the industry. Preserve will enable real estate companies to quantify the financial impacts of the opportunities and risks associated with the net zero transition. This would allow for risks, such as future energy costs and demands, potential rent increases, carbon pricing, and capital expenditure, to be consistently and uniformly integrated into investment decision making.

ULI and Synergetic are working in close collaboration with Mott MacDonald and CBRE UK Valuations Advisory to develop this easy-to-use and scalable tool. To ensure that Preserve is representative of broad industry requirements, the tool will draw upon the insights of the C Change partners, ULI members and a range of key stakeholders from across the value chain.

Sophie Chick, Vice President, ULI Europe, comments, “There is a lack of consistency in the way that transition risks and opportunities are being integrated into business plans across the industry. The Preserve tool aims to create a level playing field for all, helping to facilitate and champion the wide adoption of transition risk assessments across all players and avoid the risk of any disadvantages. We see Preserve as providing an essential resource for everyone to implement the transition risk guidelines in a practical way.”

Derek Wilson, CEO of Synergetic, notes that, “The industry is at a crossroads and needs to balance the dual objectives of financial performance and climate action. Doing so successfully requires data-driven insight into the financial risks – and just as importantly, opportunities – of the net zero transition. We are proud to be working with ULI and our partners at Mott Macdonald and CBRE to build a tool that will make this insight available to the industry, and thereby drive robust climate action that is resilient because it makes commercial sense.”

Lisette van Doorn, CEO, ULI Europe, concludes, “We all appreciate that real estate is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions, and the Paris agreement is clear on where we need to get to by 2050. Integrating upside and downside transition risks into investment decision making offers the industry a vital step towards speeding up decarbonisation of the built environment. However, currently these impacts are not reflected in real estate investment appraisals as the regulation to achieve net zero for the built environment is still lacking. The Transition Risk Assessment Guidelines have been designed to assist the industry in building the business case for decarbonisation, and they are as much about value preservation and potential uplift as they are about capital expenditure.”

“Preserve is the natural evolution of this process, with the guidelines essentially forming the tool’s technical brief. We believe that this will enable the industry to drive real transformation and create lasting industry-wide change in addressing decarbonisation, all facilitated by an intuitive, easy-to-operate, interactive tool.”

Preserve will be developed across several phases, with the initial phase focusing on the tool’s technical specification before proceeding to development and testing and then finally piloting and case studies. The tool will be launched as a publicly available, free-to-use resource.

To ensure that the tool will add value for the industry, ULI and the development partners will actively seek input and feedback from ULI’s membership and the wider industry. A C Change roundtable will be held at the forthcoming ULI Europe Conference in Milan (10-13 June, 2024) where registered participants will have the chance to provide input into the user specifications of the tool. There will be further opportunities for industry players to contribute their expertise to the development phase of ULI Preserve and participate in piloting the tool during the later phases as part of the wider C Change programme.

Contact Sophie Chick at [email protected] if you’re interested in supporting the development of Preserve or would like to find out more about the tool and opportunities for piloting and/or sponsorship.

The C Change programme is sponsored by the following organisations: Catella, Hines, IPUT Real Estate, Longevity Partners, Patrizia, PIMCO, Redevco, Savills Investment Management, Schroders Capital, Sonae Sierra, and Urban Partners.

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For further information, contact [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has over 48,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

In Europe ULI has almost 5,500 members across 15 National Council country networks.
For more information on ULI, please visit https://europe.uli.org

About C Change

C Change is a ULI-led programme to mobilise the European real estate industry to decarbonise. We’re a movement empowering everyone to work together for a sustainable future. We connect the brightest minds from across the value chain. We challenge barriers, share expertise, and champion innovation to move swiftly to accelerate solutions that will transform our industry and protect our planet. C Change means real change.

C Change was formed in late 2021 by a group of leading real estate players that was united in its aim to focus on collaboration to ensure companies large and small have access to practical solutions and education on decarbonisation.

Please visit: https://europe.uli.org/research/c-change/

About Synergetic

Synergetic is an innovation-led sustainability analytics company that combines expert advisory with ground-breaking digital tools. We specialise in the use of KPIs, performance data, and business case analysis to drive sustainability impact in a way that makes financial sense.
Operating internationally with clients in asset management, development, and the public sector, we are leveraging the power of data to make property and infrastructure more environmentally sustainable, more socially impactful, and more commercially valuable. All at the same time.

Please visit: https://www.synergetic.group/