Carbon Not So Neutral

An interesting article appeared discussing a possibility of a number of London commercial office buildings becoming unusable or obsolete based upon the new energy criteria about to be imposed. The whole concept of carbon neutral is somewhat of a oxymoron, as many of the larger cities, having existed for 300 or more years, as in the case of London, are introducing new standards for energy efficiency starting in 2023.

According to certain estimates, up to two million square feet of London’s commercial office space would appear to be non-compliant with the new green energy rules.

This is creating a potential one-two punch after London has gone through the disruption of COVID-19. With so many workers no longer required to come into the office, demand for office space could very well easily shrink to a point that will make many of the older buildings no longer profitable, as landlords are discovering. The question is, will this require a reinvention of our meaning of a big city? New energy rules are going to call for renovation and refurbishing of all these buildings in order to make them compliant with the new carbon neutral criteria.

The question facing many commercial real estate professionals is, how long will it take before such stringent green restriction models become the law in America? New York City is already requiring certain buildings to become more energy-efficient by 2030.

The new carbon neutral requirements are going to slowly become part of many building codes, which will also impact retail sales as we know it. The pandemic had a dramatic impact upon many of the retail sites, specifically the malls throughout the country. The additional burden involved with carbon neutral codes is going to ultimately end up hitting the pocketbook of the consumer. Such overhead costs will only further move inflation higher and faster.