Comparative study of European and North American institutional frameworks concerning the fight against climate change and the biodiversity protection

This study is based on the analysis of the evolution of institutional and regulatory frameworks of four territorial jurisdictions concerning the fight against climate change and biodiversity protection in the real estate sector: European Union, United-Kingdom, United States, and Canada.When it comes to the fight against climate change, obligations for new construction and major renovations are growing. It is possible to observe the inclusion of an approach considering the life cycle of buildings, the monitoring of construction waste, or even the use of less polluting materials and energy consumptions limits with ultra-efficient buildings or even energy production. Existing buildings for their part are not left out, since they will still constitute a large majority of the real estate stock of the legal frameworks studied. Although the room for maneuver is less, the obligations mainly focus on the energy performance dimensions and requirements increasingly target owners by penalizing them in the event of non-compliance with the consumption thresholds per m2 or ft2 that have been imposed. These sanctions may result in the impossibility of renting non-compliant spaces. All these elements are accompanied by tax incentives or assistance to stimulate the achievement of these thresholds.The biodiversity protection is less established than the fight against climate change, because the government concerns about their ecosystemic impacts have emerged more recently. Nevertheless, considerable dynamism exists to frame this theme. In fact, certain frameworks are already requiring for new constructions such as the need to consider as a priority the realization of dense developments on brownfields sites in urban areas in order to limit sprawl, integrate natural elements within the building to ensure that real estate development does not result in a loss of biodiversity or the obligation to prioritize the in-depth renovation of a building before destroying it to build a new one and justifying why, if applicable. Existing buildings are not left out since obligations relating to greening rates are already effective in some jurisdictions and are on the shelf for others.Finally, in terms of data disclosure, most regulatory frameworks have obligations relating to organizations trading on public stock markets. However, some of them have obligations aiming at private organizations. For the moment the thresholds (of turnover, number of employees and number of assets under management) target large organizations, but these thresholds will fall year after year to include more companies. Jurisdictions which have not yet established obligations in this regard are working on similar requirements. These requirements or draft laws are based on benchmarks such as the TCFD, the ISSB or even EFRAG.All these elements in terms of existing or currently developing obligations complicate the development and ownership of real estate assets. It is a sector in which it becomes necessary to collaborate with partners of choice and to develop knowledge and know-how internally to manage existing stock in order to limit the holding of non-compliant properties (by transferring them or undertaking upgrading work). Monitoring and analyzing the regulatory framework is also essential to anticipate the obligations that could arise and ensure that the long-term value of the assets is preserved as well as the value creation model, because the maintenance or retrofit works on the assets as well as the collection of quality data that can be disclosed generates significant costs.