Morningstar DBRS' Takeaways From the 2024 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo: More Sustainable Financing Needed to Close the Climate Funding Gap

The 2024 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo was held in Philadelphia from November 11 to 15. The conference was founded in 2002 and is now the world's largest green building conference and expo, attracting thousands of stakeholders from around the world. The theme of this year's conference was "Built to Scale" --over the course of five days and more than 100 educational sessions, experts shared their insights on green building initiatives, climate goals, and regulatory developments that continue to drive progress toward climate goals while addressing persistent concerns. This commentary presents the highlights from the conference around these topics.

Key highlights:
-- The sustainable debt market continues to grow (reaching $5.1 trillion as of June 30, 2024), but the level of investment is estimated to be about half of where it needs to be to reach net zero by 2050.
-- As 2030 quickly approaches, decarbonization is a present reality and no longer a future goal. The industry is nonetheless quickly evolving, and players that do not quickly evolve will get left behind.
-- The transition to electrification at scale will be a challenging undertaking requiring government action.
-- Implementation costs of new green materials and technology remain a material barrier to stakeholders.

"Currently, we do not see near-term risk to our credit ratings on large contractors given their scale, customer diversification, ability to manage regional dynamics, and continued investment in the necessary skills and technologies to work on sustainability-linked projects, However, small regional companies without diversification in scope or geography that struggle to invest in net zero site operations, including energy-efficient equipment, may lose out on project opportunities and therefore see their market position decrease over time," said Margaret Rabba, Vice President, Diversified Industries.