The Greening of Real Estate Financing

Environmental sustainability matters to British Columbians and all the players need to work together to identify and promote the hidden value of green buildings. What do investors need to know about high-performance buildings and their long term return? As its 35th Annniversary Special Event, the Urban Development Institute hosted a seminar that explored the connection between sustainability an valuation. This event provided participants with an opportunity to find out about existing and potential tools for measuring sustainability from a financial perspective.

The Honorable Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia, was the keynote speaker for this special event. His speech set the stage for a program that was built around the 'green value' theme as championed by Chris Corps.

Chris Corps initiated and led Green Value, a 2005 international study on sustainable value. Mr. Corps is a Board member of Vancouver's Light House and the Green Building Finance Consortium; he initiated and led the Vancouver Valuation Accord (linking sustainability and value) and is an author to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

“If sustainability is to move from awareness to action on-the-ground, then arguably it will be driven by the business case. At the heart of the business case is the valuation methodology”, notes Chris Corps.

“Sustainable investment and development are often discounted or ignored because quite simply, cost has little or nothing to do with value. Emerging changes to accounting and valuation standards, combined with reconciliation of short-term versus long-term thinking related to risk and profit, mean that Green Value can be quantified and incorporated in the business case. In turn, this can help engage profit motivation”, adds Chris Corps

Posted May 2007