On 12 June 2008 onValues ran a workshop on environmental and social issues in real estate investments on behalf of Mistra, The Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research.

Workshop participants believe that E&S issues will increase in importance in the future due to, among other factors, rising resource prices, regulatory incentives aimed at combating climate change, and the renewed market focus on fundamentals after the real estate boom years. Participants noted that the financial costs and benefits of resource efficiency investments are not evenly distributed among different actors (owners, tenants, developers, other agents) and that this represents an important (but not insurmountable) barrier to investments in this area.

Participants also highlighted the fact that resource efficiency is not the only value driver. Better locations, increased occupant comfort, brand and reputation leading to higher building values, occupancy rates and rental yields can all make significant contributions to increasing the return and reducing the volatility of real estate investments (and should be explained better by developers).

The workshop report below includes an introductory chapter on the relevance of environmental and social issues from the point of view of real estate investors, as well as a summary of the most interesting findings from the presentations and discussions.