HYDERABAD: Hyderabad has made it to the list of top 20 sustainable cities as per the Asia Pacific (APAC) Sustainability Index 2021, along with Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. The city is ranked third among Indian cities and 17th in the APAC region.
Knight Frank, in its latest report, Active Capital Asia-Pacific - Rising Capital in Uncertain Times, rated 36 cities based on urbanisation pressure, climate risk, carbon emissions and government initiatives. Singapore, Sydney, Wellington, Perth, and Melbourne bagged the top five spots in the green-rated cities in commercial real estate in the Asia-Pacific region category. Bengaluru is the only Indian city to achieve the Gold standard category, while Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai were placed in silver category.
Gold category indicates that the city is slightly advanced and somewhat open to accepting and adapting to environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics from all stakeholders to a certain degree. Silver indicates that the city is advanced and open to accepting and adapting to ESG metrics from all stakeholders to a limited degree.
The report also noted that India’s Green Bonds issuance increased 523 percent YoY, from $ 1.1 bn in 2020 to $ 6.8 billion in 2021. As of now, India is the sixth-largest country in APAC in terms of the total amount of green bonds issued in 2021. Green bond issuances that were negatively impacted by the pandemic in 2020 recovered in 2021, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and posting an increase of 116.9 per cent from $3.1 billion raised in 2019.
“New market dynamics have propelled the growth of sustainable development in India. With more and more occupiers demanding sustainable, green and well standard buildings, we expect these features to become a universal standard, rather than a novelty,” said Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India.
Good indication
“As indicated in our Sustainability Index, four Indian markets feature in the top 20 in the APAC region which is a good indication of the real estate sector’s commitment to creating sustainable development,” said Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director Knight Frank India