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RICS unveils manifesto for the built environment
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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched its manifesto for the built environment, titled Empowering a Sustainable Future, in advance of the next UK General Election.

RICS says the UK’s built and natural environments face large-scale challenges ranging from climate change to a cost-of-living crisis, creating additional difficulties for a housing sector experiencing crucial supply shortages. Endemic skills shortages undermine development in the industry while the workplace has become more fluid post-pandemic, with the built environment needing to reflect the change in workforce behaviour.

It also cites United Nations data that says the built environment generates around 40% of global carbon output, and hopes to lead the industry on the response to climate change by introducing new standards, guidance and toolkits that will speed up the decarbonisation of the industry.

The RICS manifesto sets out a ten-point roadmap, which includes points focussed on creating safe, sustainable, and affordable homes for all, building safety, and future skills for a sustainable built environment, among many other important factors.

Key asks within the manifesto include:

  • Increase supply of rented homes to meet demand and slow rent rises
  • Deliver a joined-up quality and sustainability strategy
  • Review skills shortages to tackle targets
  • Hit housing targets with a housing delivery strategy
  • Action the recommendations from the recent RICS Decarbonising UK Real Estate that call for reform to how building performance and EPCs are presented.
  • Develop the much-needed National Fire Strategy as called on by industry to raise competency, standards and mitigation. This must include the UN-endorsed International Fire Safety Standards (IFSS) Common Principles.

A senior RICS delegation will present the manifesto and its key messages at the Conservative Party and Labour Party conferences.

RICS CEO, Justin Young, said: “As a leading representative of the built and natural environment sectors in the UK and globally, RICS advocates policies with solutions to some of the most critical challenges of our time. The public needs safe, sustainable, energy-efficient, and affordable homes; businesses need high-quality commercial spaces that align with the decentralised digital economy, while the industry needs a more robust pipeline of diverse talent that fulfils the skills demands of the sector so that it can deliver its goals.

“The RICS manifesto provides food for thought for the parties as they develop their policy platforms for the next General Election, and we look forward to engaging with their policy teams at the upcoming party conferences.”

IPCC climate report focuses on built environment solutions
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There are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change, and they are available now, say scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

“Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “This Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.”

The report, approved during a week-long session in Interlaken, brings in to sharp focus the losses and damages we are already experiencing and will continue into the future, hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard. Taking the right action now could result in the transformational change essential for a sustainable, equitable world, says the report.

“Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected,” said Aditi Mukherji, one of the 93 authors of this Synthesis Report, the closing chapter of the Panel’s sixth assessment.

“Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions,” she added.

Resilient development

This involves integrating measures to adapt to climate change with actions to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in ways that provide wider benefits.

For example: access to clean energy and technologies improves health, especially for women and children; low-carbon electrification, walking, cycling and public transport enhance air quality, improve health, employment opportunities and deliver equity. The economic benefits for people’s health from air quality improvements alone would be roughly the same, or possibly even larger than the costs of reducing or avoiding emissions.

Climate resilient development becomes progressively more challenging with every increment of warming. This is why the choices made in the next few years will play a critical role in deciding our future and that of generations to come.

To be effective, the report says, these choices need to be rooted in our diverse values, worldviews and knowledges, including scientific knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge and local knowledge. This approach will facilitate climate resilient development and allow locally appropriate, socially acceptable solutions.

“The greatest gains in wellbeing could come from prioritizing climate risk reduction for low-income and marginalised communities, including people living in informal settlements,” said Christopher Trisos, one of the report’s authors. “Accelerated climate action will only come about if there is a many-fold increase in finance. Insufficient and misaligned finance is holding back progress.”

Sustainable development

There is sufficient global capital to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions if existing barriers are reduced. Increasing finance to climate investments is important to achieve global climate goals. Governments, through public funding and clear signals to investors, are key in reducing these barriers. Investors, central banks and financial regulators can also play their part.

There are tried and tested policy measures that can work to achieve deep emissions reductions and climate resilience if they are scaled up and applied more widely. Political commitment, coordinated policies, international cooperation, ecosystem stewardship and inclusive governance are all important for effective and equitable climate action.

If technology, know-how and suitable policy measures are shared, and adequate finance is made available now, every community can reduce or avoid carbon-intensive consumption. At the same time, with significant investment in adaptation, we can avert rising risks, especially for vulnerable groups and regions.

Climate, ecosystems and society are interconnected. Effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30-50% of the Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean will help ensure a healthy planet. Urban areas offer a global scale opportunity for ambitious climate action that contributes to sustainable development.

Changes in the food sector, electricity, transport, industry, buildings and land-use can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they can make it easier for people to lead low-carbon lifestyles, which will also improve health and wellbeing. A better understanding of the consequences of overconsumption can help people make more informed choices.

“Transformational changes are more likely to succeed where there is trust, where everyone works together to prioritise risk reduction, and where benefits and burdens are shared equitably,” Lee said. “We live in a diverse world in which everyone has different responsibilities and different opportunities to bring about change. Some can do a lot while others will need support to help them manage the change.”

Built environment sector ‘lacks clarity’ on carbon emissions
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The majority (58%) of built environment professionals believe the sector is already doing enough to tackle its carbon impact, despite the built environment contributing 36% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions, and the most recent available data showing that CO2 from operational energy use of buildings reached its highest level yet in 2019.

That according to building performance analyst IES’s City of Tomorrow report, which surveyed a wide range of professionals working in the built environment sector about the current status of sustainability methods and targets, including engineers, facilities managers, contractors, developers, planners and architects.

The report revealed that only 29% of those working in the sector felt that it should be doing more to reduce its carbon impact, and 13% were unsure if current efforts would be enough.

The research suggests that this complacency could stem from a lack of awareness around the full extent of the built environment’s carbon contributions.

It’s been demonstrated that the built environment contributes almost 40% of the UK’s total carbon footprint, yet when asked to estimate this figure, 80% of those surveyed answered incorrectly, with 45% underestimating the total percentage. Six percent guessed as low as between 1-10%.

When asked which aspect of the sector they believe is the place where most sustainability gains can be made, 51% of those surveyed said construction. However, only 22% said operation/energy use, and just 4% said materials development.

Don McLean, CEO of IES, said: “While it’s great that awareness of climate issues in general is now pretty widespread, and 79% of organisations in the built environment sector are actively working towards net zero, it’s clear that more needs to be done to communicate the built environment’s role in carbon emissions to those working in the sector.

“In particular, we really need to raise awareness of the environmental impact of buildings’ operational energy use, with the available data showing that emissions from building operations are still a huge problem, that efforts up til now have failed to tackle effectively.

“Reducing the emissions created during the construction process is of course essential, however considering that 80% of the buildings that will be around in 2050 are built already, optimising the operational efficiency of those already in existence is just as, if not more important.”

Steve Fox

GUEST BLOG: Paradigm Shift – IFRS 16 and the built environment
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Steven Fox, Corporate Real Estate Solutions, Qube Global Software

Attempts at cross-border convergence of accounting standards is hardly new, in fact there have been efforts to achieve this feat since at least the late 1940s when increased international flows of capital necessitated greater financial clarity.

Initially, efforts focused on harmonisation – reducing the inconsistencies between different reporting methods – but nowadays there is a greater focus on methodical cohesion to assure comparability between a given set of figures.

And with good reason, this approach has seen significant uptake across the globe, with the majority of developed nations using a now standardised set of reporting rules known as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

And while there has been considerable success since the introduction of IFRS, there continues to be amendments made to the foundations of the standard in order to achieve greater financial transparency between trading nations and businesses – particularly in the wake of the latest financial crisis. The new amendment, IFRS 16, will bring all lease obligations and related financial information onto the balance sheet for the first time – a paradigm shift for reporting.

Indeed, this is far from a minor change, the International Accounting Standards Body (IASB) estimates that the new standard will cause two trillion dollars’ worth of assets reappearing on the balance sheet. Irrespective of this, however, the amendment is ultimately being introduced for the right reasons. As IASB chairman, Hans Hoogervorst remarks, these new requirements will “[…] bring lease accounting into the 21st century, ending the guesswork involved when calculating a company’s often-substantial lease obligation [and] providing much-needed transparency on companies’ lease assets and liabilities”.

Why is this important for the built environment? Well, both existing and new leases will now be reported for the first time, meaning first and foremost that any business with a leasing strategy or extensive portfolio of leased assets will need to begin laying the groundwork in order to be fully compliant come January 2019. A considerable task, no matter what size your business.

Secondly, IFRS 16 by its very nature will significantly impact listed companies of all types and their profit projections, so the need for absolute clarity on the topic is paramount if leaders wish to placate shareholders. Thirdly, as a result of this new requirement, the real estate and wider built environment will likely begin to assume responsibility for financial reporting. So what do decision makers need to know?

Spreading the word

The main point of difference between IAS 17, the current regulation, and IFRS 16 is that finance and operating leases will both subsequently appear on the balance sheet. Under the new standard, operating leases will also report depreciation and interest separately. IAS 17 makes it difficult for financial statement users to clearly see the effect of operating leases and therefore obstructs useful comparisons with other companies. Essentially, under the current standard you cannot distinguish between those who lease and those who buy. IFRS 16 will fundamentally change this. Come January 2019, it will no longer be acceptable for leased assets to lurk in the shadows, undeniably throwing certain revenue projections into question.

Asset turnover, operating expenditure, and equity will all be negatively impacted, whereas liabilities, reported debt, and recorded assets will increase dramatically. Clearly, this change will necessitate the need for frank conversations between real estate professionals, the C-suite, and wider company shareholders. With the goalposts moving under IFRS 16 (particularly metrics such as EBITDA), KPIs could essentially become unachievable, therefore decision makers will need to begin the process of acclimatising shareholders to these changes as soon as possible.

Moving over

In terms of transition, executives have two options: modified retrospective or fully retrospective. It is generally understood that fully retrospective accounting offers a more meticulous comparison of an organisation between old and new standards, but it also demands that two simultaneous reports be drafted, inevitably costing more in time and money. The complexity of transition cannot be understated, and it is generally agreed that specialist software will be required to make the process a success.

This seems an opportune moment for decision makers to consider how web-based applications like Qube Global Software’s IWMS solution, Horizon, can help prepare and maintain all pertinent financial information, thus alleviating much of the labour-intensive work required in order to be fully compliant come January 2019.

Embracing collaborative reporting

Accountancy has always been the reserve of the finance department, but IFRS 16 will undoubtedly create a ‘new normal’. The new standard primarily implicates land and built assets (in addition to plant, machinery and equipment), therefore real estate professionals, and indeed other departments, will need to start involving themselves in achieving full compliance and maintenance of financial accuracy. Essentially, accountancy will begin formulate part of many professional’s remit, mostly as a matter of necessity. With trillions finding its way back onto the balance sheet, no one department will be able to orchestrate this slew of financial data, so a cross-department collaboration will be vital. The easiest way of achieving this will likely be through utilisation of technology that assists with organisation and comparison of data.