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Paris, 8 November 2023 - Deepki, the only company in the world offering a fully populated ESG data intelligence platform for the commercial real estate sector, has today released the latest findings of its annual "ESG Index". This publication marks a year since the launch of the Index, which represents the first publicly available European benchmark measuring real estate’s environmental performance using real data. Following its initial publication in late 2022, it was positively received by the market, which was desperately lacking a common framework in order to tackle the challenges brought about by tightening regulations, such as the SFDR. The Index gives values for the average, top performing 30% and top performing 15% in terms of energy consumption and CO2eq emissions for different typologies across the real estate sector in the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Italy and Spain, as well as Europe as a whole, thereby defining which investments are sustainable according to the EU Taxonomy.

In order to redirect investment flow in line with the 2050 net zero target, the European Commission has detailed certain performance criteria in the EU Taxonomy. According to these criteria, buildings in the top 15% of the national or regional building stock in terms of primary energy intensity will be considered sustainable investments and serve as a benchmark for the entire sector.

The newly published Index shows that the evolution of Europe’s commercial real estate sector’s ESG performance varies from year to year depending on the typology, with housing, offices, healthcare, and retail seeing a drop in final* energy consumption, in contrast to hotels, which have increased, while logistics remains stable.

Hotels stand out as only typology with rise in energy consumption

Of the five sectors analysed across Europe, the hotel sector was the only one to see an increase in terms of final energy consumption. This can be attributed to a rise in occupation, as the hospitality industry recovers from the impact of Covid-19, reflecting an evolution in terms of usage not necessarily tied to energy efficiency. Luxury hotels are the main culprits, due to the nature of the services offered. This means owners must find new, less energy-intensive solutions to maintain the same level of comfort. Achieving carbon neutrality requires a multi-faceted approach: improving energy efficiency and transitioning toward greener energy sources. In contrast, the updated ESG Index shows that the logistics sector has the lowest energy consumption across Europe.

In terms of carbon emissions, the hotel and healthcare sectors rank the highest across Europe, at 39 kgCOeq/m² each. Both sectors must step up efforts if we are to limit global warming to 1.5°C and avoid the very worst effects of climate change.

The full report is attached below