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Unsustainable luxury The luxury industry is making big strides to meet the climate challenge, but rising affluence and ambitious global emissions targets leave governments with few choices but to step in to curb consumption, warns Liam Bailey
A
bout 18 months ago, luxury
other concerns in the wider housing market,
unusual meeting with a wealthy
properties, location, design and detailing are
developer Mike Spink had an
young European client. “We
spent the two hours discussing their project’s mechanical and electrical services specification, which they’d read cover to cover,” he says
during a recent phone call. “They were incredibly
engaged in the detail, and from the outset had demanded that sustainability was the top priority. The issue of cost wasn’t even raised.”
and for wealthy buyers who often own multiple
the focus. Some developers, like Spink, have
innovated and installed heat pumps and other
green infrastructure anyway, but there has been little push from purchasers until now. The government’s confusion over how to approach
the issue means there’s been little regulatory impetus either.
Yet a reckoning may be coming, at least if
The meeting was unusual because for the
the Paris Agreement climate goals are to be taken
much interest in the sustainability credentials
Institute confirmed that high-income countries
past 25 years Spink’s clients have rarely shown
of their homes. On the odd occasion when they did mention it, the steer would be to do
something sustainable provided the cost was paid back in lower energy bills. Yet in the past
two years, Spink has noticed more of his
There is a growing, committed pool of buyers asking questions spanning energy efficiency, embodied carbon and the sustainability of materials
seriously. A 2021 report from the Hot or Cool
must reduce lifestyle carbon footprints by 93% by 2050, with even middle-income countries
into recycling and upcycling. After spending
impossible to square this with the current rate
rarity, leading brands are in a race to carbon-
needing cuts of up to 80% to meet targets. It’s of change, and the implications extend well
years burning unsold goods to protect their
neutral status. Ultimately, the industry is moving
beyond property to every industry that
towards a future of fewer collections, designed
of the world’s top architects and developers
LUXURY HAS A SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
you might think that flying to distant locations
committed pool of buyers asking questions
The fashion and travel sectors were proactive
and the sustainability of materials.
their business models, and their journeys provide
clients seeking to ensure their homes have a
significantly reduced impact on the environment. Anecdotes don’t make for data, but in recent
weeks during conversations with close to a dozen I’ve heard similar stories. There is a growing, spanning energy efficiency, embodied carbon
This is welcome, but the timing demonstrates
how slow luxury residential property has been
on the uptake. Commercial developers have been under intense pressure for years now from
investors, occupiers and regulators to embed environmental standards into the bricks and
commands a slice of luxury spending.
in anticipating the issue as a systemic threat to
clues as to where real estate is likely heading.
for holidays is a bad thing to do, but even here
the industry has a plan: travel less frequently
but stay for longer. Dial down the weekend breaks and enjoy two-week stints in the sun or snow with an easier conscience.
The read across to real estate is clear.
Forward-thinking developers are already taking
save the planet and, in doing so, guarantee
efficiency and the sustainability of materials,
pushed to understand how they can help to their own survival.
Fashion houses have made sweeping
changes to their operations including swapping
The residential world has not come under
virtual showrooms, supporting certification
the same pressure. Affordability trumps all
For consumers in the luxury travel sector,
Both remain serious emitters but have been
mortar product as part of wider environmental,
social and governance (ESG) investment criteria.
to be owned for longer.
strides in the technical aspects of energy
and increasing numbers are placing these as central tenets in their marketing strategies.
Challenging as these changes are, they are
planes for ships to move goods, investing in
low-hanging fruit compared with the next problem
to set environmental standards, and moving
collections, or travel’s move towards fewer flights,
– longevity. Like fashion’s drift towards fewer
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