More companies lease green offices to help India meet sustainability targets

Bengaluru, Aug 13 (IANS) In a bid to reduce carbon footprint, companies’ interest in green office spaces in India is increasing and in the April-June period, about 13 million square feet of office space in the top six cities has been leased in green-certified buildings, a report showed on Tuesday.

This represents a 24 per cent increase (year-on-year) and accounts for an impressive 82 per cent share in overall leasing during the quarter, according to a Colliers report.

Majority of the upcoming supply in various construction stages is expected to be green-certified, expanding green office stock to over 600 million square feet in the next two-three years.

“This also reflects occupiers’ strong commitment to align their sustainability goals with the broader sustainability targets of the country,” said Arpit Mehrotra, Managing Director, Office services, India, Colliers.

Since 2023, about 70-80 per cent of the space uptake by engineering and manufacturing, technology and BFSI players has been in green-certified buildings.

With nearly 75 per cent share in the first half of this year, occupier interest is growing in green office spaces across the country amid rising awareness among corporate occupiers.

The share of Bengaluru followed by Mumbai remained significant, together accounting for over 50 per cent of the leases in green-certified buildings in Q2 2024.

The report mentioned that from the 13 million sq ft of leases signed in green buildings, about 60 per cent were in relatively newer developments which have come in the last 5 years.

Currently, LEED, GRIHA and WELL are some of the prominent green certifications available in the Indian market, which validate buildings as ‘green’ by assessing various parameters, including energy consumption, waste generation and alignment of design with health and wellness aspects.

Over the last few quarters, developers, investors and occupiers in the office market have increasingly embraced adoption of sustainable elements in their portfolios.“Moreover, SEBI’s mandatory sustainability reporting further provides a thrust to occupiers, investors and developers to increasingly consider green portfolios while meeting their ESG targets,” Mehrotra said.