CBRE’s survey highlights the growing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives in real estate decision-making for organisations across Europe.

The survey of senior executives revealed that 70% of all respondents increased their focus on ESG in 2022, partly driven by external factors such as government imposition of ESG disclosure requirements (67%) and higher energy prices (55%).

Building features, such as reducing energy consumption, has the most significant impact on investment and occupier transaction decisions, with 88% of respondents considering them important. Additionally, over half of the respondents would seek a discount or reject a deal if a building lacks these energy-efficient features.

There is also a growing emphasis on the value of social building features, with proximity to public transport being the most cited social feature (86%) as having an impact on real estate decisions. Social controversy is also a top consideration, with 52% of all respondents stating that they would reject a building involved in any controversy.

The survey finds the top three challenges for implementing ESG goals, were: poor availability or quality of data (53%). costs exceeding benefits making it difficult to justify action (39%), and benefits being unknown or uncertain (36%).

Overall, CBRE said that ESG features are becoming increasingly important in real estate transactions, and developers must take them into account when designing and marketing properties.

A detailed overview of the survey is available .