KPMG, a company from the Big Four, became a member of the Czech Green Building Council in January. We talked with Pavel Kliment, a partner of KPMG and the head of the real estate sector, about what he expects from membership in the Council and how he perceives the future of sustainability in the Czech Republic.
KPMG is generally known for its audit services. Why did your consulting firm join the Council?
KPMG is a global audit, tax and advisory firm. We focus on individual sectors and one of the four most important of them is real estate, which I manage at KPMG. Membership of the Council thus understandably fits into our strategy. We want to develop current trends in real estate. Sustainability is important to us in the long run, at the same time we perceive it as a big topic for the future, which offers huge potential.
What are your current sustainability activities?
We stick to what we understand. We do not plan to engage in activities that are outside our scope - such as building certification. There are bigger experts like developers or construction companies. We focus on regulation and its impact on financing, on the company's management and control system, as well as on transparency. There we have our know-how and something to offer. We think that our role is to connect entities that need financing, i.e. developers, real estate groups and investors on the one hand and banks on the other.
What do you think of the current regulation related to sustainability?
It should be noted that regulation already exists today, much strengthened after the last economic crisis, when limits were imposed on how much capital the bank must hold on certain types of loans according to their riskiness. The aspect of sustainability is now being added to this. The point is that money for sustainable projects will be relatively massive and will allow both commercial and central banks to invest in this type of projects. We perceive our task primarily in the connection of these two worlds. Developers do not understand the details of regulations, on the other hand, they are binding for banks and they influence the amount of money that go to sustainable projects. In addition to regulation, companies are increasingly aware of the impact of their business on society and the environment. Interest in maintaining or even strengthening their reputation is growing.
Another interesting topic for us is reporting. In the area of sustainability reporting, we expect significant growth, which will also be related to the development of green financing in the future. So far, only the largest companies and groups compile sustainability reports in our country. We offer our know-how in this area – we can help compile such a report or verify it.
What do you expect from membership in the Council and the Council itself?
I expect that the membership will help us to develop activities in the mentioned areas. The fact that financing will be a major topic of the Council has already been announced by ČSOB's entry last year. Personally, I would like to get the topic of sustainability and green financing again to ARTN (Association for the Development of the Real Estate Market), where we have a well-established system of several large meetings a year. They have a high level of panel discussion, for example, I personally present Trend Report, which is a flagship of ARTN. There is room for cooperation with the Council everywhere.
Where do you see the future of sustainability?
I think sustainability is a topic concerning not only the construction field now. And it will be one of the key topics in the coming years. I do not believe that covid is dampening sustainability. On the contrary. I am convinced that it is accelerating it, mainly because the EU has already linked the post-covid recovery of the EU to the goals of a low-carbon economy, to which the Czech Republic has also acceded. We already see it today. I see the sustainability and use of the principles of the circular economy as a new path for the construction industry. It will probably not completely change the prevailing negative public view of construction, but it can significantly improve it.