Berlin, October 2022 | Engel & Völkers Commercial in Berlin has been a strategic investor in SedaiNow since August of this year. The Berlin-based company enables property owners, managers and investors to analyze the ESG risks of building properties via a digital platform and gain better access to financing and investments based on the assessment. The goal is to enable owners and industry decision makers to sustainably transform the building sector based on ESG regulations.
The costs and risks coming to real estate owners as well as tenants due to a CO2 tax expected to be levied from 2023, higher electricity prices and increasing EU regulation in the banking sector require solutions now. "Together with Engel & Völkers Commercial in Berlin, we will enable thousands of property owners to deal with these changes and benefit from them in the long term," says Kaspar Neftel, Founder of SedaiNow. October will see the launch of the first joint project between the two companies, which will enable owners of residential and commercial properties (WGH) to identify CO2 risks.
In Germany, the real estate sector accounts for around 30 percent of emissions and about 40 percent of energy use. In addition, the construction sector is responsible for about 50 percent of waste in Germany. By 2050, it is expected that 80-90 percent of the building stock in use today will require fundamental energy refurbishment. This requires responsible action to guarantee an ecological real estate industry of tomorrow. As things stand, the 1.5-degree target of the Paris climate agreement is already in danger of failing unless serious decisions are made quickly about sustainably designed and organized new and existing buildings. Even a stated 2.0-degree target appears increasingly unrealistic. "The ESG real estate platform SedaiNow creates the necessary conditions and empowers investors to make sustainable investment decisions and real estate owners to plan and implement the most effective measures imaginable so that sustainability and profitability can be in harmony," explains Christian Walter, CEO of SedaiNow.
Engel & Völkers Commercial is the market leader for residential and commercial properties in Berlin. As an industry leader with over 40 years of expertise in the brokerage of, among other things, high-end residential and commercial properties, managing partners Nicolas Jeissing and Rackham F. Schröder recognize the need for active action to provide solutions for clients. "We are delighted to have gained SedaiNow as a strong strategic partner for ESG analysis and financing, dedicated to a current, disruptive field of activity within the real estate industry," explains Nicolas Jeissing, Managing Partner Engel & Völkers in Berlin. "For Engel & Völkers as well as for SedaiNow, the sustainability transformation of the real estate industry is a matter of the heart. Achieving this transformation and thus allowing our clients to ultimately benefit from it is our primary goal," adds Rackham F. Schröder, Managing Partner Engel & Völkers in Berlin. "Not only are we giving property owners better access to sustainable financing, but at the same time we're creating social value that takes us closer to a carbon-neutral future."
"Making houses and apartments as energy-efficient as possible represents the order of the day," knows Christian Walter, CEO of SedaiNow, adding, "For a sustainable real estate industry, ESG criteria play an important role. This is of course about reducing consumption and ultimately CO2, but also about how we want to live and work in buildings or how tenants and landlords deal with each other in a fair and transparent way. ESG-compliant business holds immense benefits for the real estate sector - as property valuation and rentability are strongly influenced due to regulation. After all, without a sustainable real estate industry, climate goals are in danger of failing. So there's a financial and social responsibility that we need to meet."
This is where SedaiNow software comes in, providing a holistic 360° ESG analysis for the real estate sector. Considering and assessing environmental, social and economic factors, this results in an authentic and resilient classification of a building as well as the derivation of optimization approaches. "Our clear claim is to constantly develop the aspect of ecological real estate management. On the basis of sustainability audits, we support decision-makers in the real estate industry and their asset management in the development of support strategies. The aim is for sustainable investments to become the standard within the real estate industry in this way," explains Christian Walter.
SedaiNow is the developer and operator of a data-processing platform for accessing all ESG-relevant information for the real estate industry. Software automatically consolidates this information as a data set, collects financing-relevant risks, and then ensures the derivation of all necessary improvement measures to minimize stranding risks and take advantage of financing benefits. Using proprietary algorithms for new and existing industrial properties, reports are generated automatically and in the desired format for specific target groups. In the process, data preparation and auditing are carried out according to ESG criteria, which are based on current legal requirements and those specific to the real estate industry.
"By cooperating with SedaiNow, we combine the years of real estate expertise of one of the most renowned brands in the real estate industry with the strengths and technical know-how of a holistic ESG platform, as offered by SedaiNow," says Nicolas Jeissing. "With our investment in SedaiNow, we are further advancing Engel & Völkers' forward-looking strategies and long-term goals."
© Photo: Helen Nicolai
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