The extreme weather events of recent years have highlighted the vulnerability of real estate assets to climate risks and the urgent need to adapt the built environment to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Institutional investors, as key stakeholders in commercial real estate, play a critical role in this effort. However, little is known about their decision-making behaviours and the processes that drive or hinder investments for climate adaptation measures in existing assets. This paper investigates the decision-making behaviours of institutional real estate investors through the lens of institutional theory, offering a framework to analyse both the rational and the cognitive tendencies that influence climate adaptation investment decisions. Using a qualitative research approach, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with senior managers across the different management levels of institutional real estate investors in the Netherlands. The findings aim to identify and classify the underlying tendencies shaping these decisions into normative, coercive, and mimetic pressures. By doing so, this study will provide valuable insights for industry practitioners to enhance their decision-making practices towards climate adaptation, offer guidance to policymakers on where regulations, policies, and incentives are needed, and contribute to the existing body of literature on real estate investor behaviour in the context of climate change.

Purpose - Integrating sustainability considerations into valuation practices is essential for promoting sustainable real estate investments. However, a comprehensive understanding of how sustainability factors impact the value of real estate assets is required. This study addresses the growing importance of renewable energy and the underutilized potential of rooftops by proposing an innovative framework for the valuation of roofs when used for renewable energy production.

Design/methodology/approach - This study uses the concepts of residual value analysis and Highest and Best Use methodology, adapting them to create a new framework for rooftop valuation.

Findings - The value of a roof can be determined based on their energy generation capability, where the conditions for enhanced energy harvesting potential distinct a higher value to the host asset. This removes the hurdle for investors to use rooftops for renewable energy investments.

Originality - The novelty of this study lies in using the Highest and Best Use methodology in the valuation of roofs. To the best of our knowledge, no explicit valuation of roofs has been done in the context of renewable energy production.

Practical implications- This study contributes to innovative valuation methodologies by incorporating sustainable measures. Social implications - Social implications include the evaluation of third-party investments in renewable energy on rooftops. This could lead to increased investments and higher renewable energy production, thereby lowering energy costs and enhancing the energy supply's reliability.

Shopping centres hold significant energy retrofit potential in the retail sector. However, their complex multi-stakeholder governance structure complicates decision-making for Energy Efficiency Retrofits (EER). Although literature identifies some barriers linked to EER, they are often scattered and not identified within a process perspective that considers their contextual complexities. This study addressed this gap by examining stakeholders’ behaviours, barriers, and relations during EER decision-making processes, to detect stakeholders’ needs to catalyse the energy transition. Qualitative research was conducted on three representative Dutch shopping centres case studies. The cross-case analysis uncovered the decision-making process for EER and new barriers attributed to this building typology. Amongst other, detected barriers can be attributed to limitations with governmental and internal regulations, lifecycle conflicts, proposed interventions being out of scope, and existing technical challenges. The study also revealed causal relationships among stakeholders, showcasing varying interpretations of barriers and highlighting the roles of owners, property managers, and public authorities in overcoming them. Furthermore, the findings indicate the key role that different contextual variables play in the EER decision-making process, such as ownership type, governance structure, and leasing structure. This study offers insights and recommendations for shopping centre owners, property managers, and policymakers, to support them in navigating the energy transition of the retail building stock. Key recommendations include decentralizing decision-making, optimizing governance structure, streamlining sustainability advisors, and acknowledging the collaborative roles of property managers and policymakers in providing effective and holistic solutions.