DRIVING POSITIVE CHANGE

Maximizing your ESG impact in multi-residential real estate

BY BITA MOMENI MANAGER, MARKETING & PRODUCT METERGY SOLUTIONS INC

On Tuesday, October 26th, FRPO and Metergy partnered together to present a webinar session highlighting the benefits of ESG strategies in the multi-residential industry. The panelists discussed how a well-thought-out ESG strategy not only drives positive change in the communities we serve but also improves building operating costs, resident loyalty and building marketability.

The expert panel included Nisha Agrawal, Director, Sustainability and Operational Excellence at QuadReal, Marlee Kohn, Director, ESG at Starlight Investments, Ben Lemire, Director Corporate Sustainability at GWLRA, and Joe Brown, Vice President, Building Technology & Decarbonization Lead at KingSett. The session was moderated by Adrien Deveau, President at Metergy Solutions Inc.

The panellists shed light on some of the challenges with implementing ESG strategies in multi-residential buildings. Ben shared that some of the opportunities include balancing sustainability and maximizing performance. The panellists also discussed the limited opportunities to recover costs in capitalintensive retrofits as well as benchmarking and integrating data management to shape sustainability efforts. They also highlighted that most of the time, building residents and tenants are not aware of the importance and benefits of incorporating ESG approaches in their building.

Marlee summarized that there is a lot of emphasis on energy efficiency, but the spotlight is shifting to finding low cost, low carbon energy and the need to be mindful of not only the kind of energy we use, but also when we are using it rather than just solely focusing on reducing usage. Nisha shared some of the starting points for implementing sound ESG management. She mentioned that it starts with building certifications (i.e. LEEDS) and building data collection. She highlighted the importance of the industry becoming more transparent to allow for more data sharing. Joe emphasized that the new goal of the E (Environment) in ESG is carbon reduction and that for developing new buildings, the focus will be on utilizing Passive House principles and zerocarbon as starting points.

The panellists also shared some of the issues they’re looking into tackling for their multi-residential portfolios in the coming months and years. The panellists agreed that submetering will be key to efficiently managing building resources (for example, energy and water) and will be crucial to data reporting and the ability to continuously improve property management. Nisha brought up that another focus will be integrating smart buildings such as automation systems that can be remotely monitored, controlled, and fixed through cameras and sensors to future-proof building portfolios.

On the social aspect of ESG, Marlee pointed out the importance of a balanced “peoplefirst” approach as people are the most important factor to moving the needle in the ESG across the buildings. Further examples include building meaningful relationships with the community and across the supply chain, expanding on resident/tenant well-being and finding ways to measure social impact. Embedding ESG strategies in property management is all about making everyone accountable for the organization’s priorities (for example, establishing a sustainability scorecard across the organization’s assets).

In 2030-2040, the panellists envisioned their portfolios to be smart, connected, resilient to climate change, and overall healthier buildings. Decarbonization of energy means moving towards electrification and exploring renewables.

The audience was engaged throughout the session with one member who asked what part does G or governance plays in ESG? Panellists agreed on the need to align different sustainability standards (such as the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark or Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) and the challenge of benchmarking not being mandated. The invited industry experts also stressed the importance of accomplishing benchmarks with integrity and being honest with the results especially for those areas where the organization needs room for improvement. The panel also suggested that Canada should promote and be proud of its achievements in ESG strategies. Specifically, Adrien pointed out that Canada is one of the leaders in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark.

A huge thank you to our panellists and all who attended the session. For those who missed out, please visit Registration (gotowebinar.com) to catch up on maximizing your ESG impact in multi-residential real estate. We look forward to partnering with FRPO to host more sessions in the near future!

DECARBONIZATION OF ENERGY MEANS MOVING TOWARDS ELECTRIFICATION AND EXPLORING RENEWABLES.”