New EPRA guidance aligns EPRA sBPR and TCFD reporting requirements

The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) has today published new guidance for listed property companies already reporting EPRA Sustainability Best Practice Recommendations (sBPR) to meet the reporting requirements of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

The report, Enhancing transparency with the TCFD, provides practical case studies of businesses that have adopted TCFD recommendations.  It has been published in partnership with Jones Lang Lasalle following increasing pressure from the investment community for the industry to improve accessibility and transparency of its risks and opportunities associated to climate change.

The new EPRA guidance is designed to demonstrate how EPRA Performance Measures and Overarching Recommendations can support climate-related reporting in line with the TCFD, providing efficiencies which encourage property companies of all sizes to report against both frameworks. The uptake of the TCFD in the European listed property sector remains low, with data showing that EPRA member property companies are five times likelier to report EPRA sBPR than TCFD. Of the 70 companies that disclose EPRA sBPR only the larger cap companies with greater reporting resources also adopt TCFD. This guidance will assist all companies to continue to report EPRA sBPR and adopt TCFD.”

Hassan Sabir, Finance & Sustainability Director, EPRA, said: “It is now clear that climate change poses a significant risk to business and the global financial system. As such, investors are increasingly asking companies to manage their risk exposure, to mitigate their contribution to climate change and to communicate their efforts with the aid of the TCFD framework. As a result, we must help the commercial property industry to be as accessible and transparent in their climate disclosure as possible.”

“The businesses that report both the EPRA sBPR and the TCFD have told us they feel the benefit of increased interest from investors who are able to better understand and measure their efforts in managing climate related risks and opportunities." added Dominique Moerenhout, EPRA CEO.

Louise Ellison, Group Head of Sustainability at Hammerson and EPRA Sustainability Committee Chairwoman said: “I welcome this important EPRA publication, which supports the membership and the broader real estate sector in understanding and complying with the reporting recommendations of the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).  As long-term owners and managers of real assets with significant environmental impacts, property companies have an important role to play in the battle against climate change.”

Justin Travlos, Country Head, UK and Global Head of Sustainability at AXA IM – Real Assets, and EPRA Sustainability Committee Member added: “As investors and asset managers, we seek increasing levels of transparency and understanding of the impact of climate change on our investments. This is important to us both in responding to TCFD requirements and in managing the short to medium term asset level risks in our investments.”

ENDS

About TCFD

The TCFD Recommendations were released in June 2017 with the aim to promote consistent, comparable, clear, and reliable corporate disclosure of climate-related information, and support informed decision-making by investors, lenders, and insurers in allocating capital & underwriting risk. The TCFD was established in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) at the behest of the G20 and recognizes the economic risks and opportunities inherent in a changing climate.

Find out more about on https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/publications/.

About EPRA sBPR

EPRA sBPR aims at increasing transparency, comparability and accountability of ESG public information across European listed property companies, providing a set of 28 material metrics over three impact categories, i.e. Environmental, Social and Governance. The reporting guidelines foster transparency and provision of better information to investors and stakeholder are the sole industry standard for ESG public disclosure within European listed real estate.

Find out more about on https://www.epra.com/sustainability/sustainability-reporting/guidelines.

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE HERE

For more information please contact:

Henry Adams, FleishmanHillard Fishburn:
+44 (0)7725 192 067
EPRA@fleishman.com