The Green Building Opportunity

Major cities in developing economies are accelerating efforts to accommodate population growth and demand for green buildings. New buildings must be built with low carbon materials and designed to operate with maximum energy and water efficiency, while existing buildings must be green retrofitted accordingly, in order for the real estate sector to meet it’s net zero goal. Accordingly, the green buildings sector represents €20.82tn investment opportunity through 2030 across emerging market cities with a population over half a million. Europe and Central Asia comprises a large portion of that opportunity with a €557.54bn opportunity for green residential real estate property sector including both new construction as well as retrofits.

The Green Building Investment Opportunity in Emerging Markets encompasses:

• Latin America and Caribbean: Commercial: €560.23bn, Residential: €2.95tn;
• Europe and Central Asia: Commercial: €184.75bn, Residential: €557.54bn;
• Middle East and North Africa: Commercial: €379.02bn, Residential: €578.61bn;
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Commercial: €240.55bn, Residential: €429.51bn;
• South Asia: Commercial: €237.26bn, Residential: €1.24tn;
• East Asia Pacific: Commercial: €6.01tn, Residential: €7.49tn

While the sector is compelling for the investment community there has been a significant barrier to entry for investors, namely understanding how to quantify the environmental impact of a building and classify it as green.

The real estate sector can be hard to abate due to the distributed nature of decarbonizing buildings, coupled with the often higher upfront costs of low-carbon alternatives and the need to engage multiple stakeholders. Green building certifications rooted in standardized metrics and reporting requirements are among policies and measure governments must put in place and continually support.