The majority (80%) of European commercial real estate asset managers are accelerating plans to improve energy efficiency across their property portfolios to help deal with the energy crisis and rising energy bills.

The research by Deepki, the ESG data intelligence firm, which surveyed 250 European commercial real estate asset managers in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, also highlighted the huge energy cost increases asset managers are experiencing within their portfolios.

Over half (53%) of those questioned said they had seen energy costs rise by over 51% across their commercial real estate portfolios.  Staggeringly, of these, 18% cited a massive increase of between 71% and 90% in the cost of their energy.

The need for more energy efficient commercial buildings is also highlighted by the increase in green premia – the higher pricing power of more sustainable buildings. The research reveals that over half (56%) are seeing an uplift of 11%-15% and a further 28% said they had experienced a 5%-10% value enhancement, reflecting the growing demand for more efficient buildings from occupiers and the people that use them.

At the other end of the scale, 82% expect the energy crisis to cause a dramatic increase in unoccupied buildings which do not perform well when it comes to energy efficiency. Those assets with poor energy efficiency will also be sold more quickly than originally planned, according to 81% of respondents.

Vincent Bryant, CEO and co-founder of Deepki, said: “Businesses across Europe are counting the cost of the energy crisis, and commercial real estate is no exception.  However, rather than stopping investment, the sector is taking action, either by accelerating plans to improve the energy efficiency of buildings or to divest those where the performance is particularly low.”

Deepki claims to be the only company in the world offering a fully populated ESG data intelligence platform to help commercial real estate investors, owners and managers improve the ESG performance of their real estate assets, and in the process enhance their value.