The "Building Responsible Property Portfolios" report urged investors to comply with the U.N.-backed Principles for Responsible Investment or risk seeing their returns on environmentally unfriendly property assets slide sharply.

The report, which was written by Gary Pivo of the University of Arizona and supervised by the Property Working Group of the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UN EPFI), said buildings were responsible for around half of global carbon dioxide emissions, both from operations and the energy consumed by people traveling to and from them.

It said investors could exert crucial influence on property fund managers to invest in sustainable property, and reap significant financial benefits from savings on operating costs and higher rents from tenants.

"We operate in an industry where investors, occupiers, constructors, and developers each blame the other for the lack of positive action in improving the environmental footprint of new and existing buildings," said Paul McNamara, co-Chair of the UN EPFI Property Working Group.

"Our report highlights the wide range of opportunities that exist for institutional investors who want to take positive action and apply the Principles for Responsible Investment to their property assets," he said.

European members of the UN EPFI Property Working Group include AXA Investment Managers, F&C Asset Management, Hermes Real Estate, Morley Fund Management, PRUPIM and WestLB AG.