At the current rate commercial properties won’t meet EPC targets until at least 2040, missing the 2030 target by a decade, research from property tech firm Search Acumen has found.
When the same research was undertaken last year, the industry was set to meet the target by 2038.
It now appears it will take the industry an extra two years, indicating the pace of built environment decarbonisation has slowed.
The 2030 MEES standards aim to bring all EPCs to a minimum rating of B.
Andrew Lloyd, managing director at Search Acumen, said: “Real estate owners and investors have faced a barrage of economic and financial challenges over recent years and inevitably this will have had some impact on the appetite for investment in costly retrofits.
“Similarly, since the pandemic, how we live, work and shop has changed impacting the investment in asset management initiatives. This is most notable in the office sector, where appetite for investment in energy efficiency upgrades has been made more complex by declining occupier demand for larger floorplates.
“Despite these dynamics, the mission to decarbonise needs to remain a constant, both to lower the environmental impact of the built environment, but also to ensure commercial sustainability for real estate portfolios. 2030 really isn’t that far away.”
Over 13,000 commercial rental properties recorded as being available for rent in England and Wales still have EPC ratings of F or G, failing to meet the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) that came into effect in April 2023.
Meanwhile 2024 saw a 20% year on year fall in upgrades to the higher rated A*-B bands
Offices are most affected property type, with nearly 5761 buildings still rated F or G, nearly 5% of total stock. Only 15% of offices have achieved an A, A*, or B rating.
At the other end of the spectrum, the hospitality sector has the highest proportion of buildings rated A, A*, or B (31%), but retail now has the lowest percentage rated F or G (0.54%).
