From Commitment to Action: Lessons and Solutions for Delivering Building Decarbonisation
On 25 November, more than 140 AREF and Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) members joined our breakfast seminar at DLA Piper to explore practical pathways for accelerating building decarbonisation. This second session in the series moved the conversation from identifying barriers to generating actionable solutions that can be embedded in transition plans and future industry campaigns.
The event aimed to:
- examine the most pressing challenges facing portfolios today
- identify practical, systems-based solutions through moderated roundtables
- gather insights that will inform future policy engagement and industry collaboration
Polling throughout the morning showed a shift in industry sentiment since the January session. Policy uncertainty and weak business cases for retrofit were tied as the top barriers to progress, each receiving 31% of the vote, while data and reporting challenges have fallen down the list. When asked what single breakthrough would have the greatest impact over the next 12 months, 36% selected stronger internal business cases to secure board and investor approval. Looking ahead to 2030, almost half of attendees expect their portfolios to make progress but will miss some milestones, and a further 23% believe significant acceleration is required. The most common next step attendees committed to was advocating for specific policy changes (28%), followed by cross-functional engagement and piloting new technologies.
Keynote Highlights
Joey Aoun, Net Zero and Sustainability Lead at Savills Investment Management, delivered the keynote, highlighting the financial materiality of climate risk and the need for a systems-thinking approach across policy, finance, technology and skills. Joey emphasised the rising economic cost of climate events, the impact of energy price volatility on tenants and asset performance, and the limitations of electrification without parallel investment in efficiency and grid capacity. Case studies demonstrated the financial value of integrated retrofit programmes, including increased valuations, improved rental performance and substantial reductions in operational emissions.
Roundtables and Moderator Insights
Fourteen moderated roundtables examined seven core themes: policy uncertainty, financing models, technology, data and reporting, business cases, owner–occupier alignment and skills. Key insights included:
- strong support for mandating commercial energy data sharing to overcome persistent data access barriers
- the importance of consistent standards and regulatory clarity to unlock financing at scale
- the need for interoperable technology solutions and trust in performance data
- the central role of lease structures, timing and softer co-benefits in strengthening the retrofit business case
- improving landlord–tenant engagement, supported by clearer language and better communication tools
- addressing skills shortages across engineering, asset management and finance, with a focus on consolidating training resources and expanding entry routes
Fireside discussion and panel
Mete Coban MBE, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy, joined a fireside discussion, outlining the GLA’s work on retrofit, climate finance and city-wide planning. He emphasised the link between climate action and social equity, which chimed with AREF's recently released Just Transition articles. He encouraged industry groups to bring forward ideas that could be supported through London’s policy and finance programmes.
A panel with Emily Hamilton, Rob Wall and Sam Carson reflected on the morning’s themes, with consensus that long-term policy certainty and coordinated industry advocacy are now essential. Strengthening internal decision-making frameworks and aligning incentives between owners and tenants were also seen as critical steps for the year ahead.
With special thanks to our speakers:
Moderators:
Oliver Light, Head of Sustainable Real Estate, Accenture
Adam Baranowski, Head of Climate Action & Investment, BBP
Keynote:
Joey Aoun, Net Zero & Sustainability Lead, Savills Investment Management
Panellists:
Emily Hamilton, Independent Adviser
Rob Wall, Assistant Director, British Property Federation
Sam Carson, Head of Sustainability, Valuations & Advisory Services, CBRE
And thank you to all our table moderators from across Accenture, BBP, CREFC Europe, Schroders, Tishman Speyer, Brookfield, Orchard Street, M&G, BGO, Apex Group and others for facilitating the discussions.
Download slides
Next steps
AREF and BBP will now collate the insights and actions from this session to inform joint policy engagement, future guidance for members and the next stage of this decarbonisation series. Further updates will follow shortly.
Enquiries
If you would like to discuss this event or any of the topics raised, please contact us and we will connect you with a member of the ESG & Impact Investing Committee.
With special thanks to DLA Piper for hosting this event
A joint event with BBP
