The European research programme launched by the OID, ESREI (European Sustainable Real Estate Initiative), celebrates its 4th anniversary in 2025! As environmental and social challenges for the sector are going beyond borders, addressing them requires a cross-country comprehension. How can we work together to address these ESG issues? What must be known by paneuropean actors in real estate? That’s what the ESREI programme is all about.
ESREI – A European vision for sustainable real estate
ESREI stands for European Sustainable Real Estate Initiative. It is a research programme launched by the OID – Observatoire de l’Immobilier Durable – in 2021. Since its creation in 2012, the OID has worked on and followed many regulations at both French and European level. Many tools were produced to help real estate professionals understand environmental challenges and implement more sustainable practices.
However, as European regulations are multiplying, the need for a European vision became essential, especially for companies with activities at a paneuropean scale. As of today, the ESREI programme can count on 9 sponsors: Amundi Asset Management, BNP Paribas Real Estate, CDPQ, Clariane, La Française, OFI invest, Pimco Prime Real Estate, Praemia REIM and Socotec. We would like to thank them for their support.
2024 and 2025 – Widening the type of ESG issues at the heart of our research
Initially focused mostly on Energy and Carbon, ESREI’s work now broadens to integrate Biodiversity, Adaptation to climate change and even Water into our studies.
Firstly, in June 2024 we published a study in partnership with the Biodiversity Impulsion Group and the Urban School of Sciences Po. This study focused on biodiversity issues, with a perimeter on 3 European countries: Portugal, Germany and the United Kingdom. It dived into the regulatory framework of these countries regarding biodiversity protection and restoration measures in urban context, comparing them with France.
This year, ESREI translated and updated the Guide to Action for Climate Change Adaptation. This guide offers a practical approach to help real estate players anticipate and integrate climate risks into their projects. Over the last few years, the OID has been working to produce tools and gather recommendations from various experts to put together this comprehensive guide:
- 44 action sheets and 5 indispensable conditions for making buildings more resilient to climatic hazards (flooding, heatwaves, storms, drought, etc.)
- A systemic approach incorporating nature-based solutions (NbSA)
- A practical framework and monitoring indicators to meet the requirements of the European Taxonomy
- Keys to avoiding maladaptation and aligning adaptation strategies with local plans (at French level)
Fig. 1: The Guide to Action for Climate Change Adaptation and an example of ADAPT Story
As informing and sharing solutions are essential to take action, we also published real-life examples. These “ADAPT Stories” provide feedback shared by professionals from a variety of backgrounds.
Finally, to start a series of European and international regulatory overview on a selection of ESG topics, we published a European Water regulatory calendar. The infographic summarises the main regulations and milestones that have shaped the European Union’s water policy since the 1980s. The property sector is particularly affected, as sustainable management of water resources is essential to design resilient projects in the face of climatic and environmental risks.
The ESREI programme also aims to promote synergies between the various international activities of the OID, and the multidisciplinary issues that these address.
Working together to tackle the challenges of the ecological transition
One of the main goals and ambitions of ESREI is to support a network of European players with a wide range of profile and type of activities. Identifying partners throughout Europe is therefore a strong goal to work together on ESG issues for real estate.
This past year was the occasion to strengthen the ESREI community by launching a series of webinars dedicated to European sustainable real estate. The “ESREI Mornings” gather the ESREI team, real estate actors (ESG manager, Asset and Property managers, Sustainability committee) and members of ESREI’s network every 2 months to address a specific topic, issue or country-focused point of view.
These webinars are an opportunity to better understand ESREI’s work but also OID’s work that have an European outreach (like our Taxonomy guide or the European data from our Energy Performance Barometer).
They are also an opportunity for discussions and exchanges among peers, or with the guest speakers. So far, the ESREI Mornings sessions had presentations from the Low Carbon Building Initiative, the Better Buildings Partnership and BNP Paribas Real Estate Germany.
Fig. 2: Overview of the factsheets published after each ESREI Morning webinar
One of the other achievement of ESREI in this matter is its active participation in the European Real Estate Forum launched by INREV, along with companies and members from countries all across Europe (Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, etc…), and major European organisations, such as EPRA, RICS, Better Buildings Partnership, DGNB, DutchGBC, BPIE, GRESB, …
In this regard, we also would like to extend our warmest thanks to the different organisations that work with us in the creation of this network.
What publications have been produced after four years?
Since 2021, the programme has produced a wide range of resources. These fall into four categories:
- Articles appear regularly on the OID’s website. The most recent topics covered were the Adaptation to climate change challenges, interviews of the DGNB and the BBP, and a feedback on our participation in the International Conference from ENPC.
- Quarterly regulatory newsletters are sent to sponsors, covering European news for the building sector on all sustainability-related subjects (energy, responsible finance, biodiversity, carbon, etc.).
- Designed to lay out overviews of the sustainable real estate sector, country fact sheets were regularly published and updated. To date, 20 European countries are covered and a dynamic study and database now gather all the information.
- Finally, pan-European studies are regularly published on a variety of subjects, including:
Fig.3: Examples of the first two pages of a country factsheet
These studies analyse and compare the application of EU regulations in several European countries, in order to support real estate players with pan-European portfolios in implementing their ESG strategies and reporting.
In a complicated political context at European and international level, particularly in terms of ESG and regulatory issues, it is important to create opportunities for exchanges between actors to enable them to carry out local initiatives. After the first few years of ESREI, which aimed to produce many resources to provide a cross-country vision, the programme is now focusing on synergies among peers. ESREI seeks to offer a space with European partners to create exchanges and discussions between real estate companies but also national or paneuropean organisations.
- To follow our news, check out the programme’s LinkedIn page.
- If you would like to find out more about us, please contact us at esrei@o-immobilierdurable.fr
