Energy Efficiency and Real Estate: Opportunities for Investors

This report, from the investor activist group Ceres, explores how the current economic and policy climate in the United States is creating new momentum for energy-efficient buildings. For investors with real estate holdings, it shows how energy-efficient buildings can provide a buffer against financial losses during a recession, as well as other advantages in leasing and real estate. With climate risks rising on the investment agenda, state and local governments are enacting new, more stringent building codes, often using the standards of the LEED green building rating system as requirements. New models for retrofit and real estate development financing are being established by both for-profit and nonprofit players. And the federal government is considering climate and energy legislation. All of these will have an impact on portfolio valuation of real estate investors.