Jessica Long, head of sustainability, Americas, at Nuveen Real Estate, participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITworks: 2021 Conference.
Long discussed how Nuveen has formalized its climate risk investment framework, and why it considers this important.
“We do see climate change as a fundamental shift in risk and opportunity and one of the things that’s going to influence investment performance over the long term,” both on the transition risk side as well as on the physical asset side, Long said.
Long also commented on whether the real estate industry should develop a consistent approach to defining the financial implications of climate change. “I do think that consistency amongst all stakeholders would be a really big improvement,” she said.
Meanwhile, Long talked about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and human capital matters, and the challenges of quantifying or categorizing what investors actually want to see in these areas.