A Comparative Analysis of ESG Measures in Real Estate in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for 2019-2021

Dominika P. Gałkiewicz – University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol, Finance, Accounting & Auditing, Andreas Hofer-Str. 7, 6330 Kufstein, Austria

Bernd Wollmann – University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol, Finance, Accounting & Auditing, Andreas Hofer-Str. 7, 6330 Kufstein, Austria

Abstract: In recent years, the issue of sustainability has evolved from a volun­tary environmental issue to an increasingly comprehensive set of regulations. The Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) and the upcoming Taxonomy Regulation of the European Union (EU) are two examples of such regulations. EU taxonomy reporting is gradually becoming mandatory for more and more companies – these regulations include rules for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, and have a significant impact, especially on the real estate industry and its stakeholders. The goal of this study is to evaluate how consistently the 55 largest real estate companies in three European countries have disclosed information on topics such as employees, social factors, and governance issues, in addition to environmental concerns, between the years 2019 and 2021. Large companies are often better prepared for this because they have the resources and expertise for professional reporting. Regardless of the size of the company, however, the biggest challenge is still the lack of stan­dardization. The reporting on the following metrics has undergone significant changes during the observed period (2021 compared to 2019): E-measures: which standards are used (+260%), EPRA recommendations (+180%), Scope 3 t CO₂e (+120%), S-measures: employee satisfaction (+100%), employees with permanent contracts (+67%), salary ratio of woman to man (+55%), G-mea­sures: own Sustainability Performance Index (+350%), UN SDG‘s included in the report (+300%), and Board Compensation tied to Sustainability measures (+150%). It is crucial for individuals, organizations, and politicians proposing new sustainability reporting regulations in Europe to recognize that overly complicated rules may not be followed entirely. Additionally, it is essential to maintain a consistent EU taxonomy reporting approach that is simple to im­plement in the future, regardless of the industry and the size of the company.

7th International Scientific Conference on Recent Advances in Information Technology, Tourism, Economics, Management and Agriculture – ITEMA 2023 – Conference Proceedings, Hybrid (Faculty of Organization and Informatics Varaždin, University of Zagreb, Croatia), October 26, 2023

ITEMA Conference Proceedings published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ITEMA conference partners: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia; Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Varaždin; Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, Serbia; Institute of Marketing, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poland; Faculty of Agriculture, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine ”King Michael I of Romania”, Romania

ITEMA Conference 2023 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-75-2, ISSN 2683-5991, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ITEMA.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission.

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