Around 30 per cent of the total portfolio of Real I.S., BayernLB’s fund service provider specialising in property investments, complies with the taxonomy. This has been confirmed by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), which, at the international property fair Expo Real in Munich, presented Franz Krewel, a member of the Executive Board of Real I.S. AG, with certification confirming the successful ESG verification for a total of 60 buildings.
The fact that so many buildings have been awarded certification at once is also exceptional for the DGNB. ESG verification is a standardised service applicable across Europe, which is based on the currently applicable taxonomy criteria and also takes into account labour and social standards as well as ‘good governance’ on the part of the companies involved.
On behalf of the 60 properties, Prof. Amandus Samsøe Sattler, President of the DGNB, presented the certificate of compliance with the EU Taxonomy criteria for the Europe Plaza in Stuttgart. Completed in 2017, this office building is centrally located not far from Stuttgart’s main railway station. It has a gross floor area of around 27,000 square metres and meets energy efficiency class A standards. The building has been assessed for climate and vulnerability risks and is equipped with an energy management system that records and analyses consumption and automatically implements potential optimisations.
“Through taxonomy screening, we can use valid – ESG-verified – data to demonstrate that our properties are highly energy-efficient, sustainable in the long term and resilient to both acute and chronic climate risks. This is crucial – for our internal management strategies, but above all for our investors,” says Franz Krewel, a member of the Executive Board of Real I.S. AG, adding: “Particularly in light of the reform of the Disclosure Regulation, the EU taxonomy will play a central role in the classification of financial market products in future. Through ESG verification against the EU taxonomy, we can already highlight the quality of our portfolio – and thus the economic value of sustainability – today.”
As early as 2025, Real I.S. began the taxonomy screening of its portfolio. Key components of this detailed assessment are the analysis of the property’s energy performance and the conduct of a climate risk and vulnerability analysis. In collaboration with the planning and consultancy firm Arcadis, the buildings’ resilience to extreme events and long-term climate change was assessed and submitted to the DGNB for independent ESG verification. As a result, the DGNB confirmed that all properties submitted were compliant with the EU taxonomy criteria in terms of their contribution to climate protection or adaptation to climate change.
