SDGs and ESG Criteria in Housing: Defining Local Evaluation Criteria and Indicators for Verifying Project Sustainability Using Florence Metropolitan Area as a Case Study

Abstract

According to recent estimates (Reuters), the cost of implementing the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030 will be USD 176 trillion. This amount seems unattainable, even when considering the public resources currently available to governments that are part of the United Nations. It is undoubtedly necessary to involve the private financial sector, within the so-called finance for sustainable development. To achieve the SDGs, it may be also necessary to schedule local-level initiatives and actions that consider the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, which can be used to source forms of private finance for sustainable development and contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. Based on these observations, this article deals with the study of clearly defined parameters: (1) the factors that should be considered when assessing the sustainability of a (local) real-estate project and, in particular, of a housing project, in order for the project to be considered sustainable and participate, albeit pro rata, in achieving one (or more) of the eleven SDG sub-goals; and (2) funding opportunities in the world of sustainable-development finance. The specific goal of the research contribution presented in this paper was to use the Delphi method to define a set of local-level evaluation criteria and indicators for real-estate projects, specifically housing projects, with an ESG matrix and in line with some of the SDG 11 targets, considering the Florence Metropolitan Area as a case study. The application of the Delphi method to the case study made it possible to test the usability of this method for the definition of the criteria and indicators, at the local level, for assessing the level of implementation of the SDGs. Specifically, a set of 48 criteria and 74 indicators were defined for assessing the consistency of housing projects with SDG 11 and ESG criteria.