“I want to report more detailed data on my waste and recycling for GRESB, but it is so difficult to gather the information.” Does this sound familiar? If it does, you are not alone. Why is it so challenging to access accurate and reliable waste data? Let’s examine how waste is measured and tracked […]
Sustainable Water Management: Making Waves in the Commercial Real Estate Sector
Water usage in buildings, in certain parts of the world, has often been considered a secondary aspect on many organisations sustainability agendas; owing to its relative cost compared to other utilities such as electricity and gas. However, as the effects of climate change on water availability become more apparent, and urbanisation levels across the globe […]
Verdani Partners, a full-service sustainability consulting firm, has a mission to reduce waste among all the portfolios we manage. Waste is often a complicated topic to tackle as there are many restrictions, rules, and vendors to navigate through as well as requiring cooperation amongst tenants, residents, owners, managers, vendors, and property teams. Verdani works with […]
Rethinking Waste Management at CodeGreen Solutions
[one-half-first]The CodeGreen Solutions team set out to demonstrate our leadership and commitment to sustainability by implementing a waste reduction program in our own office. Our waste management program aligned with the New York City goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2030, and was developed in large part due to the importance of waste […]
All Verdani Partners’ clients have committed to a minimum 20% water reduction goal over the next 10 years. To help them achieve their respective targets, Verdani Partners developed a comprehensive water management program. As a first step, we implement a water efficiency policy applicable to all properties that sets expectations and common procedures to reduce […]
Waste Not, Want Not in the Commercial Real Estate Sector
Fuelled by our desire for goods and services, waste has long been considered a necessary by-product of economic progress. However, with global waste generation currently standing at 7 – 10 billion tonnes per annum, the magnitude of this issue is finally being realised in the mainstream. As a part of this, the commercial real estate […]
The 2017 GRESB Assessment uncovered the challenges Healthy Buildings’ clients face with capturing accurate waste data. While EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool now provides a waste tracking tool, most waste haulers do not provide accurate ongoing data. This prompted an exploration of solutions to improve ongoing waste data accuracy at both the tenant and building-level. Waste […]
4 Quick Questions with Sander Paul van Tongeren, Managing Director of GRESB
How has the scope of GRESB changed over time? Since 2009, GRESB has expanded its real estate coverage beyond private equity firms to include many U.S.-based REITs and a growing group of listed property companies globally. We continue to experience a strong uptick in REIT participation as the industry seeks to benchmark ESG best practices […]
If you missed any of our blogs this week, find them all here: Make Your Real Estate Decisions Healthy Decisions Rachel Gutter, International WELL Building Institute The John O’Halloran Initiative: How the property industry is fighting the stigma of mental illness Howard Morgan, Founder & MD, RealService Asking for the impossible Philippa Gill, Partner at […]
Today marks the end of the GRESB Health & Well-being week. This didn’t mean that we all got to work from our respective oases of inspiration for the past 5 days (although the Amsterdam office does a very good job at keeping us alert and creative), but that our internal “to do” list was driven […]
A key new focus area has quickly emerged in the real estate industry, one that prioritizes human health, wellness, and experience as key elements of green building design and operation. There are several reasons for this: For example, there is mounting evidence suggesting that many of our chronic public health problems are the result of […]
Some of the world’s most sophisticated investors have been using Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data for years to help identify companies that perform well over time in the market.1 Their belief that high ESG scores correlate with high corporate financial performance is now supported by a large and rapidly growing body of research. Deutsche Bank’s […]
As the second GRESB Health and Well-Being module submission cycle recently came to a close (July 1, 2017), well-being in real estate is not a fading trend. Rather, it is an investor, tenant, and employee driven consideration for real estate owners and operators. In 2016, 174 entities (over 20% of respondents) voluntarily completed the GRESB Health and […]
Large open windows with a cool breeze coming in, a plate of fresh fish with home-grown tomatoes, the sea pounding the cliffs in front of us while the children play on the beach and my mother has a snooze. A typical day at the office, right? If only. However, whilst I have to acknowledge that […]
Rob O’Halloran How the property industry is fighting the stigma of mental illness & promoting positive mental health As part of the GRESB Health and Wellbeing Week, Howard Morgan explains an important new initiative in the UK property industry. Would you tell your boss if you’ve got a sporting injury? You probably would……but would you […]
I can give you the statistics: Healthcare in America is more than 17% of the GDP. 20 diseases account for fully half of America’s health care spend, with diabetes, heart disease and hypertension being three of the top five causes. In the midst of the debate going on in the US about how to pay […]
Recap: 2017 Edition of the Sustainability Certification Barometer
On Tuesday, 27 June in Paris, and on Wednesday, 28 June in London, the 2017 edition of the Sustainability Certification Barometer was presented by Green Soluce, along with the main certification bodies and expert keynote speakers. This report, the first and only study to provide reliable and up-to-date figures on sustainable building certifications across Europe, […]
Akamai shows that companies with smaller loads can still play a leadership role in combating climate change AKAMAI’S GOAL: 50% renewables by 2020 Reduce GHG emissions below 2015 levels by 2020 Akamai Technologies, the world’s largest cloud delivery platform, recently invested in an 80 megawatt wind farm in Texas. This investment is designed to match […]
