12 | SUSTAINABILITY WORDS | Gordon Miller


ustainability. What’s all that about, then? These days I’m asked that less than I was, say, three years ago, but still I’m asked. Am I surprised? Yes and no. It depends on who’s asking. When I’m talking to the everyman the message appears to be mixed: it’s about saving the planet (or polar bears), how does it impact the economy (stupid), and I’m not really into that green stuff are all answers I’ve heard from educated people.


Move forward S


In a business environment, when I’m speaking to board level individuals, there’s a far greater understanding of the complexities of sustainability, the opportunities therein to engage with it – from economic, social and environmental perspectives – and the risks of not engaging in the agenda. These range from fi nes for not meeting legislative requirements, resource effi ciency to offset higher costs – through rising energy bills, landfi ll taxes etc – and potentially to one’s corporate reputation. What’s unassailably true – for everyone – is sustainability is simply becoming part of every day life: cars are becoming electric, powered by renewable sources of energy – solar, wind, hydro, products are being made from reused and recycled materials, work processes are considering the ‘human element’ of sustainability, and the built environment? Well, quite simply it’s been revolutionized


in the past decade, partly through technological innovation, corporate governance and marketing positioning, and signifi cantly by legislative pressure. Two recent reports demonstrate the huge shift towards a global sustainable built environment. Firstly, the International Sustainability Alliance’s (ISA) third Annual Benchmarking reports extensive consumption data provided by ISA members, who include leading corporate real estate owners, occupiers, developers and investors. Collectively, they control 150 million square metres of commercial assets in 51 countries, with an estimated value of more than £150 billion. Working in partnership with BRE,


ISA is dedicated to achieving a more sustainably built environment through the better measurement of building performance.


Its membership includes: Large


fi nancial institutions (such as Standard Chartered); Real estate investment companies (including Corio, Unibail- Rodamco, BNP Paribas REIS; Corporate occupiers (EDF, Heineken; Leading real estate consultants (such as CBRE); Large professional organisations (ICSC and the Dutch Green Building Council) ISA research is free of government, commercial or vested interests of any kind and is infl uenced only by the facts. Its current research includes benchmarking, in association with


“The built environment has quite simply been revolutionized in the past decade”


others of the same type.


Unlike portfolio average values, benchmarks have been calculated by removing both null (and zero) data and extreme values, and then computing an average across all the member properties of a given type in a given country. The resulting values can be accessed by members to benchmark their own buildings in a particular country or region, either as individual buildings or as whole portfolios. The ISA database represents a valuable resource for its members (and for the wider built environment community). As well as providing a tool for monitoring performance of their building portfolios, it also allows them to compare and report performance year on year within their own property holdings and to benchmark their buildings against those of other members.


Changing world | Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of everyday life


The second report, which amply illustrates the business community’s growing awareness of and interest in sustainability, is the 2012 GRESB report. Based on sustainability data gathered from almost 450 property companies and funds around the world,


BUSINESS


www.opp-connect.com | DEC 2012/JAN 2013


Of late, Gordon Miller has been pleased to note a greater understanding of sustainability (although some people’s opinions still leave something to be desired). The property world is also changing, as you will see...


Gordon Miller is the Co-founder and Sustainability & Communications Director of business alliance Sustain Worldwide (www.sustainworldwide.com). He is a licensed BREEAM International Assessor and consults on sustainability and environmental management systems. Gordon contributes to national newspapers including the Financial Times and The Guardian. Gordon@sustainworldwide.com


EDF; energy effi ciency, in collaboration with Standard Chartered; and defi ning clear metrics, in partnership with the BRE Trust.


In the report, BRE has used the measurement data provided by ISA members for their buildings to generate benchmarks for three KPIs – energy, water, waste – which are normalised by fl oor area and which can therefore be used to compare one building with


the report reveals 88% of property companies and funds now have in- house resources dedicated to managing the sustainability performance of their assets; 92% of respondents involve senior management in sustainability issues.


Key fi ndings reported include: 60 percent of the respondents collect and report energy consumption data, as compared to just 34% in 2011. The energy consumption reported by GRESB respondents is now over 45,000 GW and energy expenditures equal US$2.5 billion. These fi gures exclude tenant obtained energy consumption, which means the total impact of the commercial real estate industry is even higher. On a like-for-like basis, the GHG emissions of 171 property companies and funds decreased by 6%. In absolute terms, this is a reduction of 432,000 metric tons of CO2, which is equivalent to removing 85,000 cars from the road. Green building certifi cation is becoming more prevalent, with 51% of the respondents including green building certifi cates in their portfolio, of which LEED certifi cation is most widely adopted.


The GRESB data shows there are several areas where property companies and funds can make substantial improvements, including: 40% of the property companies and funds are still considered “Green Starters,” with limited disclosure of sustainability performance towards the investment community. This represents substantial upside potential in reducing operational costs.


Portfolio coverage of energy data is still limited. 52% of respondents have data for less than 10% of their portfolio. Measuring tenant-obtained energy remains a challenge, with less than 8 percent of respondents collecting such information.


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