Sustainability has been a buzzword for a couple of decades at least. Each year it grows in scope and breadth as more and more concepts attach themselves to the buzz. In an organization, two of the biggest sources of carbon are travel and real estate. It makes sense that the conversation tends to make its way toward our little CRE corner of the world.
The problem with sustainability and real estate is that so much of it is non-controllable (utilities, core building). There’s a broad subset that is high attention and entirely voluntary around things like plastic straws, recycling in the office, office supplies, coffee, etc but they do not add up to a lot on their own. Utilities are in direct proportion to the amount of space you own or lease. The more space you choose to have, the higher your utilities. Sure, you can buy offsets or procure renewable energy where it’s an option, but it’s again not likely large enough to move the needle.
Sustainability and real estate go hand-in-hand on the surface. Unfortunately, real estate will always struggle to move the needle. IT and Travel have a higher degree of controllable sustainable metrics but they also tie back to corporate direction.
At the end of the day, if sustainability is not a C-level focus and directive, there is not going to be much movement on the issue across a company. It’s tough to make material movement, while it is possible to make some cosmetic moves around recycling and office plastic.