Asia’s global real estate technology group Juwai IQI will build a new carbon emission calculator into its super-app, Atlas, which is used by members of its 30,000-strong global agent network.
The carbon calculator will empower homebuyers globally, including those in the Philippines, with simple, clear, and actionable data on homes’ environmental impacts and running costs.
Manila real estate agency IQI Caliver, which has hit its milestone of having closed P 1.1 billion in transactions, joins the Group in launching a sustainability push.
It is making plans to locally roll out the new carbon emission calculator, being created by IQI Caliver’s global parent, Juwai IQI.
“The high-end residential market is unaffected by rising rates. These buyers are liquid and are diversifying out of stocks and into real estate because they believe it is a superior inflation hedge,” said IQI Caliver managing director Emmanuel Andrew Venturina of the Manila market.
Sustainability is a priority for people of all ages. Today, there is no independent source of information on carbon emission built into property listings in most countries of the world.
IQI Caliver’s parent group, Juwai IQI, has 30,000 agents across 20 countries, plus two big portals for Chinese and Asian buyers of int’l property.
“We are working toward the next generation, where being green will be the first priority in choosing many things in life — including homes. We want to empower consumers with a greater awareness of their climate impacts and the ability to reduce their water and energy bills. Developers are rapidly moving towards more sustainable construction, but there are no good tools to communicate the benefits of new green buildings to potential buyers,” said Kashif Ansari, Juwai IQI co-founder and Group chief executive officer.
He added:
“Our new carbon emissions calculator is the next step for Juwai IQI after our commitment in May 2021 to achieve net zero emissions and carbon neutral certification from 2030.”
The climate emissions calculator will be integrated into Atlas from where data will be fed to third-party portals and Juwai IQI’s own real estate listing portals, including iqiglobal.com, juwai.com, and juwai.asia.
“The calculator will be a small, illustrated data window on each listing that reports on the property’s carbon footprint and likely lifestyle-related carbon footprints of the people who live there. A family walking to schools, shops, and mass transit will have a smaller carbon footprint than one that must drive to reach these amenities,” the company said.
At present, Juwai IQI provides buyers with a mortgage calculator, and believes it won’t be long before the climate emissions calculator is just as important to buyers.
“Homes that otherwise look identical can have vastly different climate impacts. Juwai IQI climate emissions calculator will make it easy to compare homes’ sustainability.
Despite rapid innovation in construction techniques and materials, buildings still account for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide,” the company said.
For example, when one puts air conditioning vents in the floor rather than the wall or ceiling, the building can save one-third of the energy it uses for cooling. In hot climates, one can save more energy by using window glass designed to let in the light but not the heat.
“Green homes can also be good investments. Numerous studies from Asia, Europe, and North America indicate that green homes can resell for a premium of as much as 9 percent compared to otherwise similar properties. That makes green homes a much better investment,” Juwai IQI said.
