Tomorrow's earth, today's journey: Exploring pathways to sustainability
Market View
Produced by:
Interview with
Carl Brooks
GLOBAL HEAD OF ESG - PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, CBRE GROUP, INC.
Tomorrow's earth, today's journey: Exploring pathways to sustainability
Market View
Produced by:
Interview with
Carl Brooks
GLOBAL HEAD OF ESG - PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, CBRE GROUP, INC.
About Carl Brooks
Carl Brooks holds the position of Global Head of Sustainability for the property management vertical at CBRE. His primary role involves leading a team within the advisory segment of the organization, fully focused on sustainability issues. This team is tasked with ensuring that investor clients' properties and portfolios either appreciate or at least maintain their value in the face of the various sustainability-related challenges facing the Real Estate sector.
Could you explain how important data is in your sustainability efforts?
Data is central to everything we do—it's like the new gold for us. We've developed a strategy that consolidates all our property management activities, simplifying our workflow and ensuring we deliver consistent, reliable information to our clients, wherever they are on their sustainability journey. To maximize efficiency in delivering this strategy we partnered with Deepki, a leading, Real Estate focused sustainability intelligence platform in 2023 having worked with them in the UK and across Europe since 2021. This robust approach to data management allows us to make smarter decisions that benefit both the environment, our clients’ investments, and our business performance. It's all about using data to make informed choices that help us and our clients achieve our sustainability goals. By leveraging data, we can identify areas for improvement, track our progress, and demonstrate our achievements in a transparent and credible manner. This not only builds trust with our clients but also enhances our ability to innovate and adapt to changing sustainability demands.
How do you make sure your sustainability plans work well with your financial and operational goals?
It's all about integration. We ensure that our sustainability efforts are fully embedded into our business operations and with wider business systems and processes. Efficient property management reduces costs and increases market value, helping us meet sustainability targets while boosting financial performance. This strategic integration not only makes the buildings we manage more attractive but also helps us grow our business and increase market share. It's a win-win for us, for society, and the environment. We adopt a long-term perspective, recognizing that sustainable practices can lead to significant cost savings over time. By optimizing energy use, reducing waste, and improving operational efficiency, we not only lower our environmental impact but also enhance our financial stability. Moreover, our commitment to sustainability differentiates us in the market, attracting environmentally conscious clients and investors who value responsible business practices.
Data is central to everything we do—it's like the new gold for us.
With such a varied group of clients, how do you meet the different sustainability needs across various regions and types of assets?
Each region and client we work with has unique sustainability challenges and needs. We customize our approach for each situation, whether it's an office building or an industrial site. By planning our resources carefully and adapting our strategies, we can effectively meet the diverse demands of different asset types and regional priorities. Our goal is to provide sustainability solutions that are not only effective but also align with the investment priorities of each client, ensuring that we address their specific needs effectively. This involves conducting thorough assessments of each property, understanding local environmental regulations, and collaborating closely with clients to set realistic and achievable sustainability targets. We also leverage our global expertise to implement best practices and innovative solutions that are tailored to the specific context of each project.
Can you talk about how partnerships help you in your sustainability reporting and overall performance?
Partnerships are absolutely crucial to our success. As well as working with strategic partners like Deepki, we also work with sector specialists including EcoVadis and EmitWise to gain deeper insights into our supply chain emissions and enhance our ability to report on a wider range of emerging sustainability issues. These collaborations allow us to target specific operational areas, aligning our sustainability goals with those of our clients. Through these partnerships, we achieve real environmental benefits and continuously improve our sustainability practices, making a tangible impact in the areas we operate. Additionally, these partnerships provide us with access to cutting-edge technologies, enabling us to stay ahead of industry trends and continuously enhance our sustainability performance. By collaborating with experts in the field, we can develop more effective strategies, measure our impact more precisely, and implement solutions that drive meaningful change.
We ensure that our sustainability efforts are fully embedded into our business operations and with wider business systems and processes.
What new trends in sustainability are you excited about?
I’m really excited about the increased emphasis on embodied carbon and scope three emissions. These are rapidly becoming crucial components of comprehensive sustainability strategies, especially in how we manage properties. We’re actively enhancing our capabilities to assess and mitigate the environmental impact of our projects, helping our clients advance towards their goals of achieving net zero emissions. This focus on detailed aspects of sustainability is expected to drive considerable innovation and investment in our sector, pushing us towards more sustainable practices. Additionally, the growing adoption of digital solutions and smart technologies is transforming the way we approach sustainability. From advanced energy management systems to real-time environmental monitoring, these innovations are enabling us to optimize our operations, reduce our carbon footprint more effectively, and provide places where people can thrive. We are also seeing increased interest in circular economy principles, which emphasize the reuse and recycling of materials, reducing waste and promoting more sustainable consumption patterns.
How does being recognised for your sustainability work affect your company's reputation and relationships with clients?
Recognition for our sustainability efforts, like being highly ranked on Barron’s sustainability list and improving our CDP score, enhances our reputation and confirms the effectiveness of our organizational strategy. These acknowledgments attract like-minded clients and partners, strengthening our market position and fostering growth aligned with our core values. Additionally, it boosts employee morale, as our team is proud to contribute to a leader in environmental stewardship. This visibility not only inspires other organizations to adopt sustainable practices but also contributes to a broader movement towards a sustainable future.
Recognition for our sustainability efforts, like being highly ranked on Barron’s sustainability list and improving our CDP score, enhances our reputation and confirms our effective strategies.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2023 revenue). The company has more than 130,000 employees (including Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves a diverse range of clients with an integrated suite of services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services.
