7 Making buildings climate-resilient
Bouwinvest carried out a scan of its entire portfolio (100% over 23,000 assets) to assess its climate resilience and risk profile. This resulted in a complete oversight at a regional and individual asset level. In addition, Bouwinvest completed this with a net risk analysis for assets with a (very) high risk of waterlogging and assessed the risk level of assets vulnerable to heat stress. The resultant net risk is a combination of the gross risk and asset characteristics. During 2023, the DGBC published its climate adaption framework in which the DGBC elaborate how to assess physical climate risks. Bouwinvest (who laid the foundation of this model) has applied this framework on its own assessment which led to new insights. In the coming years these insights will be used to draw up a methodology and plan how to include physical climate risks in its overall ESG risk assessment and how to deal with climate risks for new investments.
Bouwinvest contributes to various initiatives to improve knowledge related to climate risks. For example, Bouwinvest works in a broad alliance of financial institutions, knowledge institutes, consultants, and governments on a 'framework for climate adaptive buildings' to determine and address physical climate risks.
Bouwinvest participates in the Red&Blue programme, a five-year transdisciplinary research project focused on the development of integrated real estate and infrastructure climate risk strategies. The aim is to define a collective approach to guide urban development and investment in delta areas, with a focus on the Dutch context.