State of the Industry Report 2007-2008

Chapter Six through strategies for larger more complex items will be in the best position to adopt early, with a more positive impact on the company’s business metrics and standing in the community. other fIrst-hand obserVatIons on sustaInabIlIty: Sustainability is being functionalized and formalized within corporations, much as CRE was before it. Some companies, such as Toyota, won’t lease – much less build – space that isn’t green. There’s a disconnect between users, developers and investors on ‘green,’ making it hard for some players to figure out how to monetize the investment. There’s a tremendous amount of existing building stock out there that isn’t green. The potential for retrofit is tremendous. Stock analysts are beginning to ask companies about their sustainability goals and stats. Where’s the ownership of sustainability within the corporation? • Some companies are creating a position of Chief Sustainability Officer • At Sun Microsystems, there’s a VP of Sustainability (but the position isn’t in CRE) New employees coming out of colleges and universities are choosing who to work for based on non-traditional values and priorities like sustainability and not so much on monetary priorities such as, “What’s your stock ownership plan?” wrong question: What’s green going to cost me? right question: What’s it going to save? In the rush to ‘go green,’ many local communities are madly grabbing various LEED certification requirements and insisting that new developments incorporate them but “they don’t really know what they’re doing.” There is a direct correlation between sustainability and energy prices rising. The payback is more apparent now. It is the difference between making a business decision and making a decision or incorporating it into the business decision. Corporations have had to come out to the public and make statements about carbon footprints and sustainability. This is redefining the role of CRE. There is a difference around the world depending on where you are. Europe is more talent driven from a sustainability view, as well as Asia. A different kind of recruiting process has started there and is now getting to the U.S. It is called ‘inconvenient youth,’ to suggest their desire for the new ‘social contract’ foreseen by CoRE 2010 as part of the changing nature of work. None of this conversation is happening in South America. Another thing driving sustainability talk is the further globalization of the business. We are conscious of looking at meetings in various parts of the world. How can meetings be carbon neutral…that is what is going on in Europe. People in the market in the U.S. are unwilling to pay the higher lease rate with a LEED certified building. You have to assume there is some scale in the market for opportunity. When will you have to have LEED or BREEAM certification to get tenants? The cost/return analysis needs to be done. Some of the global companies won’t fund buildings that don’t have standards, and in many parts of the world, such as Australia, it is built in. We (in the U.S.) are 3-5 years behind Europe. And, Australia is ahead of Europe. Retailers are all over this: McDonalds and WalMart, for example. chapter six State of the Industry 2007-2008 24 http://www2.corenetglobal.org/home/index.vsp

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of State of the Industry Report 2007-2008

State of the Industry Report 2007-2008 Contents Chapter 1: Introduction : CoRE 2010 Framework and Report Structure Chapter 2: The Changing Business Environment Chapter 3: Executive Summary of Key Findings and Conclusions Chapter 4: CoRE 2010 Adoption Rate Chapter 5: Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility Chapter 6: Global Sustainability Survey and Roundtable Findings Chapter 7: Workplace Practices/Work Environments Chapter 8: Workplace Related Issue: The War for Talent Chapter 9: Asset Management/Portfolio Optimization Chapter 10: Solutions Delivery Chapter 11: Location Strategies/The Strategic Role of Place Chapter 12: Location Related Issue: Site Selection Morphs to Portfolio Alignment Chapter 13: Strategic Competencies/Enterprise Leadership Skills Chapter 14: Competencies Related Issue: The War for Talent in Corporate Real Estate (CRE) Chapter 15: Integrated Resources Infrastructure Solutions – IRIS Chapter 16: Technology and the Web Chapter 17: Technology Related Issue: Removing the Obstacles to Industry Data Standards Acknowledgements and Sources

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.