One difficulty has already been mentioned, with which particularly international investors are faced. There are no worldwide standards for sustainable real estate, and respectively, no universal system to measure the performance of the building.

The British were the forerunners in creating a national standard, who already developed the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method BREEAM in 1990, and developed this standard even further over time. In the USA, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED, which was developed in 2000 by the US Green Building Council, builds on its British forerunner. It is also the model used in Canada, Mexico, and India.

Australia also used the British and American models, but developed its own two systems, Green Star and National Australian Built Environment Rating System NABERS. Besides LEED, the USA also has Green Globes. China and Japan have their own standards as well. In short: the situation is confusing. However, all these standards have something in common: they all go beyond the passive house standard known in Germany.

Anting New Town is part of the Shanghai International Automobile City, which was built on 50 square kilometres. The sustainable residential city for roughly 50,000 residents is characterised by multifunctional block structures, public squares, and pedestrian-friendly streets.

Even green buildings earn returns

Clearly “green buildings” can be used to make money by the growing number of real estate companies and institutional investors in the USA who have dedicated their work to this topic. As Hines/CalPERS announced a Green Development Fund a year ago, it got a lot of international attention. Hines is a worldwide real estate developer, and CalPERS is one of the largest funds in the USA. It is a lesser-known fact that ProLogis, specialised in developing warehouse and logistics real estate in Europe, North America and Asia, is also committed to the topic of sustainability, and will design their future developments based on it. Even large real estate investment companies such as JP Morgan, GE Real Estate, and American International Group AIG are seriously considering launching funds that invest only in “green buildings”.

Responsibility is needed

The notion that investments in the future should not only bring in the highest possible returns, but also that each investment object should fulfil ecological, social, and ethical requirements is a fast-growing trend. It is not just alternative “do-gooders” making so-called Socially Responsible Investments (SRI), but also large institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurances.

Over the past years, this “niche” has experienced aboveaverage growth compared to other investment forms – in the USA as well as in Europe. If this trend continues – and a lot points to a paradigm shift – the real estate industry will have to offer more investment products that fulfil the demand for sustainability (which is an ethical and social need). Then, it will perhaps not be just the users, but also the capital that will force the real estate industry to start thinking in a sustainable way.