Taking action!

Sustainability has been part of Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM)’s DNA for decades.

Today, it forms an integral part of client discussions and investment decision across our business, grounded in our belief that sustainability is a key driver of value and must be considered to both protect and enhance our clients’ capital. And the sustainability topic is only increasing in importance.

Tenants are making net zero commitments, needing net zero aligned real estate accordingly. Regulators are introducing ratcheting emissions limits across sectors. Clients are demanding executable investment solutions across an array of sustainable themes. The acceleration of these trends over 2023 has cemented REPM’s long-held belief: there is an extreme shortage of sustainable assets and the supply-demand differential will only grow in the future.

Consequently in 2023 we have focused on delivering new capabilities targeting some of the big issues facing our planet and its people. These capabilities include a global team focused on decarbonization in the transportation sector, expansion of existing strategies in the healthcare space and progress on the brown to green transition in real estate with two major partnerships established at REPM and UBS levels. The 2024 new capability pipeline looks busy too, with new ideas being pursued in the food security business, impact lending and in natural capital opportunities.

In our existing strategies we have made significant progress in our approach towards climate risk and the measurability of our sustainability progress, all while contending with the slew of changing regulations, standards and other stakeholder and client requirements.

In this, our 14th annual sustainability report, our teams detail their progress in our existing businesses’ approaches to sustainability, and we cover some of the new capabilities in the sustainability themes that we believe will become norm in the near future.