Deeper green

Real estate, like most business sectors, has always had an overwhelmingly commercial approach. However, the attitudes of businesses and business people have slowly begun to change – and the emergence of ESG principles in the market has been a powerful stimulus for this trend. In particular, EU governments and international development companies have become convinced (and are now attempting to convince others) that it is not only their own immediate surroundings that can be transformed by assets operated in accordance with the ESG ethos. According to an article on ESG written by Filipa Belchior Coimbra and Francisco da Cunha of Deloitte’s Luxembourg office: “The awareness is growing that real estate can have a significant social impact, either in the form of the rehabilitation of public space (indirectly adding value to existing real estate), affordable housing, social housing and care centres, or through environmentally focused investment in new assets, such as green