‘2040 Is Tomorrow’: How Builders, Investors Are Getting More Serious About Slashing Emissions Buildings account for approximately 40% of carbon emissions globally. With global pressure to act and Paris Agreement deadlines drawing ever closer, commercial real estate investors are facing increased pressure to figure out how to bring down emissions fast and how to fund the transition. Many fundraising efforts have 10-to-20-year holding periods, the exit times of which are starting to force investors to think of solutions as a near-term, not long-term, issue, Tishman Speyer Global Head of Sustainability and Building Technologies Jonathan Flaherty said onstage last week at Bisnow’s National Sustainability and ESG Conference. “They're doing the math in their head and saying, ‘It's 2023 today, if I give you money for 15 years … when I get it back, it's 2040. Wait a minute, should that be net-zero by 2040,’” he said. “So all of a sudden you've got a lot of equity saying, actually, 2040 is tomorrow. Because in essence, that's the cycle of real estate.” 
Pressure is increasing on multiple fronts, CRE experts said onstage at the event, held at the New York Marriott Marquis.“Let's say three, four years ago, we had maybe one or two clients a year that were talking to us about going net-positive anything,” said Myrrh Caplan,  Read the full story here. | | |
