Investors are increasingly integrating social and governance measures into their ESG practices which up to recently have tended to focus mostly on environmental issues, experts agreed during PropertyEU's recent ESG Roundtable 2021.
'A lot of companies have been largely focused on the ‘E’ part [of the ESG practices] in recent years because of the contribution to the decarbonisation of the industry, but they are realising now that the "S" and the "G" are quite important too,’ said Edmund Craston, head of fund management at Patrizia.
'What is distinct about us is that we created the Patrizia Foundation which brings education and health to children around the world. What this says is that for us a lot of the ESG agenda has been in the area beyond the "E",' he added.
Sebastian Horthmann of law firm CMS in Germany agreed that social and governance issues are gaining importance. ‘Investors have been focusing on the environmental side but the “S” and the “G” are now becoming more popular,’ he said.
This is mostly because it remains quite difficult to set criteria for the benchmarking of key performance indicators in the case of social and governance. ‘It is much easier for the green side. You can measure it in a way that is easier to understand for investors and stakeholders. That is not only true for fund structuring but also on the financing side.’
