The occupiers’ preference to lease green-certified buildings has been seeing an uptick in India.

During the April-June quarter this year, 12.9 million square feet (msf) of office space has been leased in green-certified buildings across the top six cities in India, a recent report said.

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Green-certified buildings are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient.

According to data shared by real estate consultancy Colliers, for April-June quarter, this represents a 24% increase compared to 10.5 msf in the same quarter in 2023 and accounts for 82% of all total office leasing (15.8 msf) during the quarter.

The data was shared for six cities namely, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

Since January 2023, the highest leasing of green-certified office buildings was witnessed in Bengaluru at 16.5 msf. It was followed by 11.8 in Delhi NCR and 11.2 msf in Chennai.

“Real estate developers are increasingly aligning their offerings with global sustainability standards, simultaneously presenting various tangible benefits to their tenants including lower operational costs, improved indoor air quality and enhanced employee productivity,” Colliers said.

Among all sectors, the technology sector accounted for the highest share, about 27%, in the cumulative space taken up in green-certified buildings since January 2023.

It was followed by occupiers from the Engineering & Manufacturing and BFSI sectors with a 19% share each.

According to the market regulator’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting framework, the top 1000 listed companies in India (by market cap) must disclose their Environmental, Social, and Governance-related information as a mandatory process.

The data from Colliers also highlighted that with the rise in demand for green-certified buildings, their supply is also witnessing an uptick.

As of June 2024, about 67% of the Grade A office buildings in India were green-certified.