In recent years, the growth of sustainability within the commercial property world is both clear and widespread. During this time, it’s grown from an idea seen as “the right thing to do for society” to a disciplined approach that’s also become “the right thing to do for my property.”
Think sustainability … and measurability.
The ability to measure and track sustainability progress is a common theme.
“Companies are using metrics to establish the value of sustainable approaches and to expand their reach,” said Tom Carpenter, Director of Waste Management’s Sustainability Services division.
For a growing number, sustainability is no longer being looked at as a practice that must be underwritten. Instead, it’s viewed as a discipline that can stand on its own from a business-case perspective.
Many companies are judging success in terms of how sustainability practices tie back to larger goals. Often, the overall initiative is branded in a way to support this idea. One company, for example, has given their approach the name “30x20x20″ – relating to the goals of 30% energy reduction and 20% less water usage by the year 2020.”
Brad A. Molotsky, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Brandywine Realty Trust, says it’s important to remember the business drivers for sustainability decisions within an organization.
“There are a few ways to view sustainability initiatives. One is that sustainability can be a means to focus on efficiency and on consuming less and thereby paying less. In that way, it’s a business driver. It can also be a means to engage with customers that value supply-chain management or sustainable procurement or waste reduction – again, another business driver to customer engagement. To get management at large corporations to become true advocates and really pay attention to sustainability, proving its business validity is very relevant.”
Creating a metrics-based approach.
Of course, understanding the value of metrics and implementing them into a property’s day-to-day operations are two different things. But it can be done and, in fact, is being done at many companies.
“What was really important to us when we were creating our sustainability initiative was the ability to measure and monitor progress over time – using technology to funnel all the available data into one place and dashboard – one building, a set of buildings, a region, the entire portfolio all in one place,” said Molotsky who helped create Brandywine Environments, the company’s portfolio-wide sustainability initiative.
At many companies, the dashboards created receive visibility all the way up to the highest level, where they have equal billing with other key targets. Here, metrics help everyone make the right sustainability decisions for the right reasons. For example, they can help individual managers choose appropriate strategies as they relate to real measures like operational savings and maintenance costs. Also, by stressing sustainability metrics, they can be a useful tool to convince bottom-line managers, who might otherwise think of sustainability initiatives as “fluffy,” that they can be a driver for growth and savings.
“When you set targets, the idea is to first step back by taking the company’s overall values into account,” said Carpenter. “It’s valuable to set aside a full day with all key stakeholders to really think about boundaries faced and developing goals, metrics and targets that are realistic. You need to really think about what you want to attain and develop a program reflective of what you stand for.”
Looking forward
While sustainability takes different forms and is driven by different goals, most leaders will agree on one thing – it’s part of a continuum and an ongoing, ever-growing initiative.
“We’ve done a lot of things we’re very proud of,” said Molotsky. “Some might say, ‘great job’ and call it a day. We would say that even though we’ve achieved many of our initial goals and have reached a decent place, there is much still to be done. We remain committed to focusing on where we can deliver efficiency and reduced consumption and costs to our constituents. We are making great progress, but we can and will continue to get even better.”
