An environmental, social and governance programme for corporate real estate and facilities departments

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Abstract: A favourable environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating is of rising importance to companies because of expanding awareness and the growing acceptance among large investors that a robust ESG programme translates into strong market performance. Corporate real estate (CRE) intersects with many of the elements affecting a company’s ESG objectives and plays a significant role in helping it design and achieve its ESG objectives. There is a lack of clarity among rating systems and users have difficulty correlating ratings to a CRE programme. While the make-up of a CRE programme for environmental is well developed, there are great opportunities for advancement in the areas of societal and governance. This paper addresses current ESG programme issues for CRE, offers suggestions for how CRE can approach them and provides a sample of how to develop an ESG programme for real estate that will help improve the company’s performance and ultimately its market performance.

Keywords: environmental; social and governance; ESG; ESG programme; facilities management; corporate real estate; sustainability

Colette Temmink serves as Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Blue Skyre IBE (BSI). Colette oversees the strategy, product development and quality being delivered to customers to enhance their real estate performance. Prior to cofounding BSI, Colette was president of property services at Eden where she was responsible for enabling companies to seamlessly run and scale their real estate portfolios, using technology. Previously, Colette was the global head of integrated facilities management (IFM) for Cushman & Wakefield. She also served as senior vice president and chief administration officer at Apollo Education Group and held global real estate executive roles at Boeing and Oracle. Colette is a global board member of the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) and her professional affiliations include Counselor of Real Estate (CRE®), Fellow Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS), Certified Property Manager (CPM), Masters of Corporate Real Estate (MCR), Senior Leader of Corporate Real Estate (SLCR) and Certified Facility Manager (CFM).

David Flynn is the COO of Blue Skyre IBE, LLC (BSI). Prior to BSI, he held executive roles leading facility management and property management at JLL, Grubb & Ellis and WeWork. He held leadership roles on the real estate asset management teams at Citibank and UBS. David’s experience includes facilities, CBD and suburban investment properties and debt portfolios. The portfolios were comprised of a variety of asset types including office, retail, industrial, multifamily and hotel properties. Responsibilities included P&L accountability, leasing, operations, dispositions, financing, refinancing, leading outsourced teams, risk management, client relations, operational excellence, data standards and compliance. David is a Certified Property Manager and a member of the Institute of Real Estate of Management (IREM), a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), a member of International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and CoreNet.