| |December 20209According to a recent report by Bloomberg Intelligence in India, ESG and sustainability-focused, Exchange-Traded Fund (ETFs) should continue to grow based on niche themes such as low-carbon, climate and gender. Be-sides, there is strong research evidence of ESG investing in delivering superi-or returns since companies with strong sustainability scores demonstrate bet-ter operational performance and are less risky. For instance, observed over a long-term period (Sep 2007- Jan 2019), the 35-member MSCI India ESG Leaders Index, providing ex-posure to companies with high ESG performance relative to their sector peers, has outperformed the 78-mem-ber MSCI Index which measures the performance of the large and mid-cap segments of the Indian market across 80 constituents. HDFC, Infosys, TCS, Axis Bank, HUL, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, M&M, Bharti Airtel and Wipro are the top ten constituents of the ESG index in India. The growing embrace of green buildings has also been mobilized by way of governmental incentives and regulations. Whilst the rating systems for green performance are standardized differently from country to country, the overall essence in the region is to propel real estate owners and occupiers toward the adoption of green buildings through delivering cost savings. From a technical standpoint, it is simpler to incorporate sustain-ability into a building's design, con-struction and operations before its development, rather than retrofitting existing features. What's become apparent is that the concept of a green building is not a fixed concept; rather, it is a spectrum. In an age where information is abun-dant, mere monitoring won't suffice. The measures taken in response to this information will be what renders green buildings impactful. Further, the velocity at which green buildings are proliferated across Asia Pacific will hinge on a combined effort from all industry players. For example, higher level governmental incentives and regulation need to be paired with ef-forts by city authorities to upgrade the electrical infrastructure in such a way that allows for the generation of re-newable energy. And for office inves-tors and developers, the ability of their green buildings to reduce consump-tion meaningfully will depend on the occupiers' ability to spread awareness internally. As an encapsulation of con-certed efforts from multiple parties ­ the future of green buildings depends, too, on you. The velocity at which green buildings are proliferated across Asia Pacific will hinge on a combined effort from all industry players
< Page 8 | Page 10 >