The new RICS research report and online tool help that built environment sector in eight European countries determine the risk and impact climate change will have on non - domestic, or commercial, buildings.
The report assess the risk that buildings in eight European Countries face due to climate change, identifying the most vulnerable assets and quantifying the potential cost or benefit in energy bills. These countries are: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Sweden and Norway.
Furthermore, it analyses four main areas in order to understand who climate change will affect, what will be the potential energy demand, operational energy costs and carbon emissions for six type of buildings, namely, offices, retail buildings, schools, hospitals, warehouses and buildings used for leisure.
Based on the research findings, the cumulative cost of temperature increase over the next 40 years (2010 - 2015) in the non - residential stock of the eight European countries studied in the research could reach 450 GBP (550 billion EUR) if no retrofitting action is taken. This is more that the current annual GDP of Sweden and Greece combined, two of the countries included in the study.
As outlined in the report, the value of a real estate asset depends on the current operational costs and the future investments that the asset will require to keep running expenses under control. In this direction, the Climatic Risk Toolkit assists in the prediction of energy bills evolution and identification of future retrofitting measures need to be taken, in order to define and increase the asset's value.
Download the full report here