Sustainability remains top of mind for real estate organizations. And it’s critical for a successful strategic plan. It’s especially the case in a heightened regulatory environment with shareholder awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR). (According to a Cushman & Wakefield study, 91% of shareholders want a more sustainable approach.) While most private and public organizations have a reporting process for energy use, waste and product sourcing, the data only shows total volume and use. Performance and optimization of these measures remain piecemeal between property managers and technical staff.
Like all analytics platforms, sustainability analytics collect and analyze data. Types of data include greenhouse gas emissions, water and electricity consumption and waste diversion. As such, sustainability analytics shouldn’t be treated as a new expense. Instead, they should form a natural part of a real property firm’s ongoing business and strategic planning. Here’s why:
The Benefits of Sustainability Analytics for Strategic Planning:
1) Aligning Sustainability Outcomes with Larger Objectives
Although many firms have a sustainability program, there often isn’t a clear connection between the program, the data and corporate objectives. Beyond typical goals like “reduction,” what aspects need more emphasis based on operational goals? Analytics can help drive these decisions to make the best use of capital and form a more effective strategic plan.
2) Identifying Risks and Weaknesses
Given utility and energy tracking such as smart meters, a complementary analytics system is critical. It can extract consumption data and transform it in meaningful ways, such as near real-time energy audits and forecasts.
3) Controlling Increasingly Large Datasets
The key benefit to any analytics platform is data collection and management. As sustainability information becomes more detailed, an advanced data system is needed to control the sheer amount of data moving through buildings and staff. Static spreadsheets are no longer enough as sustainability and reporting platforms become more robust. Analytics offer a variety of benefits including dashboards, customized reporting and scenario planning.
4) Integrating Financial Performance
Given more robust risk and cost management platforms in commercial real estate, energy performance can no longer function independently from financial performance. As such, sustainability analytics can help structure and optimize data so that it becomes better integrated with financial analysis. In this way, it can drive better operating performance.
Without the proper analytics software to track and optimize sustainability indicators, real estate organizations lack full understanding of their sustainability platform. They won’t be able to see how it impacts both financial and strategic planning processes. Sustainability analytics are necessary to turn raw data into insightful information for business goals and objectives.
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