Commercial firm ACRES Capital launches ESG-focused initiative

“Our dedication to ESG drives ACRES to be a more purposeful company,” said Mark Fogel, CEO and president of ACRES. “The ‘ACRES Protects an Acre’ initiative reinforces our ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability.”

Over the past few years, more and more commercial firms have put their ESG goals at the forefront and poured huge amounts of money into ESG investments. That’s because ESG now plays a significant role in commercial deals, according to Reonomy lead market analyst Omar Eltorai.

Read more: Why commercial lenders and originators should be learning ESG

“We’re very much in the early innings,” Eltorai told Mortgage Professional America in an exclusive interview. “But there are aspects that are linked to existing financial concepts like environmental risk that are already being incorporated into financial frameworks by lenders and insurers…If you are able to originate loans that fit these ESG criteria, understanding ESG absolutely makes economic sense.”