Peter Ballon tells the ULI Europe conference information-sharing is critical to survive the climate crisis.
The outgoing global chair of the ULI has urged the real estate industry to collaborate rather than compete in the battle to decarbonize and be more proactive over information and knowledge-sharing, particularly to investors who are less well-capitalized.
Peter Ballon, who stepped down as global chair in July, told delegates at the ULI Europe conference in Madrid in June: “We want everybody to figure [decarbonization] out. This is not where we want to compete.
“ULI has a great opportunity and responsibility to help the smaller investors, or the investors less inclined [to decarbonize], to help them face this challenge because it is in our collective best interests.”
Speaking to Vanessa Gelado, fund strategy and investments director, Hines Europe, about his key takeaways from his two-year term as chair, Ballon said: “One of the ULI’s strengths is it is a global organization and it is well-suited to the challenges of decarbonization, which is not a local issue.
“It has many [members] around the world who share the same values and goals and a lot of great things are being done. I think we could do a little bit better in actually sharing that, that’s one of the challenges,” he added.
Ballon also explained that collaboration was “two-way”, urging those who needed help with solutions to “put up your hand” and ask for it, adding: “Equally, if you’ve done something great that someone else can benefit from, I think it is important we share that information.”
Transparency and Transition
Ballon—who is global real estate head of CPP Investments, Canada’s largest pension fund—was part of the leadership group that made sustainability and the environment a goal for the organization, in 2021.
During Ballon’s tenure, the ULI also launched C Change, a program to mobilize the European real estate industry to decarbonize through sharing expertise to work towards a common industry methodology to assess transitional climate risks as part of property valuations.
Lisette van Doorn, European chief executive of the ULI, warned previously that measuring the costs of decarbonization is only being tackled by a handful of market players, with higher-value assets. She has said that without collaboration and transparency around transition risks, there was a danger of a “two-tier market” with retrofitting activity concentrated in the best locations, while lower-value assets decline.
Earlier this year, Ballon, said during a ULI conference in Toronto, in May, that climate change was a “freight train” approaching the real estate industry.
Asked about the reasons that led him to accept the role as chair, Ballon told the audience: “While other real estate organizations have a great purpose too, it’s not what I call a higher purpose. It goes beyond focusing on pure real estate matters. The ULI wants to achieve something far more than that.”
Ballon is succeeded in his role by Diane Hoskins, co-chief executive officer at the architecture, design, and planning firm Gensler.
