Keep it Clean. Lessons from Energy Data Management for ESG

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) standards have become a vital consideration throughout the commercial real estate investment industry. Measuring building performance, improving energy and water efficiency, moving away from fossil fuels, and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions are leading strategies that create pathways to carbon reduction and meeting Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi) commitments. Packaging all of that up into a neat, transparent, and auditable report is a whole new ball of wax. As an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year with over 2,000 buildings benchmarked and a variety of energy efficiency projects in our toolkit, I will use our largest industrial REIT portfolio as a case study to examine the following learning objectives:

1. The importance of energy/water/waste use data hygiene and transparency to meet the rigors and methodology of auditing and analysis (ESG frameworks, carbon reduction policy)

2. Using energy data to develop portfolio-wide energy efficiency strategies to meet corporate ESG goals

3. Leveraging financing, utility incentive programs, and the Inflation Reduction Act tax benefits (with a focus on 179D) to get the projects done