BRE is advising on the development of a UK Taxonomy, which will help built environment investors make informed decisions about the sustainability of economic activities, such as new construction, renovations and property ownership.
Sustainable finance has a key role to play in delivering on international commitments on climate and sustainability objectives. The Paris climate agreement includes the commitment to align financial flows with a pathway towards low-carbon and climate-resilient development.
The UK Taxonomy will build on existing international taxonomies, including the EU Taxonomy, and will focus on net-zero in the UK context. On 9 June 2021, the UK Government announced the establishment of a new advisory group, the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG), to provide independent, non-binding advice to the Government on developing and implementing a Green Taxonomy in the UK. The GTAG is made up of subject matter experts and key financial market stakeholders, chaired by the Green Finance Institute (GFI).
In addition to the strategic GTAG group, additional sub-groups will be established to provide specific technical expertise on a given sector and determine the technical screening criteria (TSC).
BRE has fed into the GTAG sub-group for the Built Environment as a subject expert to advise on the TSC for the following specific economic activities:
- New construction
- Building renovation
- Acquisition and ownership of properties
The group will have the ability to work collaboratively on how to optimise the buildings’ relevant criteria for the referred economic activities through design, existing data and methodologies, and pros and cons from international regimes.
