ESG

Climate change, carbon emissions, pollution, deforestation, and other environmental concerns are top-of-mind business concerns for building owners, investors, operators, and other stakeholders. ESG is fundamental to both an organization’s governance framework and its investment framework.

Organizations define their mission, vision, strategy, values, and tactics with consideration of ESG impacts. Investors and stakeholders look to building owners to understand how they are responding to trends related to climate, demographic, and technological changes as part of the investment decision-making process.

Figure 13.1 – ESG

The ESG acronym was first used in 2006 by the United Nations in their Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) report. At that time, the ESG criteria became part of the financial evaluation of companies and, subsequently, buildings. ESG is sometimes referred to as impact investing. It was developed from the assumption...