Study shows green banks attract more investment

The following is an excerpt from an article in Green Building Press that discusses management professors Ed Conlon and Ante Glavas’s research on LEED rated buildings. To read the entire article visit: Study shows green banks attract more investment.

Green buildings can be good for finance according to a new study by University of Notre Dame management professors Edward Conlon and Ante Glavas. The researchers found that business performance in LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rated buildings exceeds that of non-certified properties.

The study compares the financial performance of 93 LEED rated bank branches with 469 non-rated branches owned and operated by PNC Financial Services Group, using consumer deposit and loan data collected between 2008-2010.

“This is the first study we have seen linking what have traditionally been considered intangible benefits of green building – employee satisfaction and brand reputation – to corporate financial growth metrics,” said Tom Paladino, whose firm Paladino and Company collaborated with PNC to develop the pioneering Green Branch® bank branch program. “The implications of the study findings are enormous. Owners and occupants of green buildings can now be expected to experience measurable business benefit beyond simple operational efficiencies.”

The recently published study (“The Relationship Between Corporate Sustainability and Firm Financial Performance”) found that: PNC’s LEED rated facilities opened 458 more consumer deposit accounts and had over $3 million more in consumer deposit balances per facility per year over non-certified properties. LEED rated facilities also opened 25 more consumer loan accounts and had almost $1 million more in loan balances per facility per year.

The data also shows that financial performance at LEED rated facilities increases at a greater rate than at conventional facilities.

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