The rise of sustainable investment and it’s impact on construction
On a virtual panel, AEC pros from Skanska and Jacobs discussed the rise of sustainable investment and how it’s impacting construction.
To truly build back better, contractors will have to build back different.
That’s the takeaway from a panel presented during a recent virtual conference where the topics of sustainable investment and infrastructure construction intersected. The event, sponsored by U.K.-based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, looked at the growing importance of ESG, which stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, an investment approach that screens publicly traded companies for predefined objectives in those three areas. It shuns firms that don’t adhere to such principles or those that operate in industries that are philosophically opposed to them, such as fossil fuels.
It also considers the impact firms’ actions have on the environment and society, the policies they have in place to promote social equity, such as diversity among board members and executives or workers’ rights, and transparency and clear reporting in corporate governance and operations.
Originally spearheaded by European investment funds, ESG has gained significant momentum among U.S. money managers in recent years. Global ESG assets reached $30.7 trillion in 2018, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance.
Then the coronavirus hit. Increased focus on ESG principals among investors — and AEC firms — is a trend panelists in the virtual event said has only been accelerated during the pandemic.
“With this pandemic, we really saw the trillions of dollars this is costing us in terms of the growing divide between our people in developed and underdeveloped countries,” said Deborah Geideman, global head and vice president of international relations at Jacobs, who delivered the panel’s keynote address. “We were reminded that we can’t operate in isolation and we need to come together as a society if we are to recover.”