Spring 2021 Issue - 44

" Triple bottom line-related topics have come to the forefront and are having a meaningful
impact on what we as real estate developers and investors are doing. The real estate industry
is starting to recognize that we are in an extraordinary period right now, and that
we need to look at these issues in a much more holistic and integrated way. "
-MOLLY McCABE, HAYDENTANNER
instead at the 75 years before 1960, you have two
world wars, the 1918 flu-it's very different. So just
because we haven't experienced something in our
lifetime doesn't mean it won't happen. Now, there
are some interesting risk models coming out of the
financial institutions and insurance industry that
are starting to take into account a much longer time
horizon.

How are sustainability initiatives faring in
the pandemic?
On balance, COVID has probably been
accelerating adoption of sustainable strategies. The
Paris Accord required signatories to deliver their
specific plans by 2020. As a result, there has been
a significant ramp-up of government funding for
deep retrofits, conservation efforts, a whole new
raft of carbon taxes and tax incentives, and sustainability toolkits in country after country. For example,
Justin Trudeau's " Green New Deal " plan is to get 25
percent of Canada into conservation by 2025 and
30 percent by 2030, with similar targets recently
announced in the United States. Nature conservancies have pivoted from rounding up donors parcel
by parcel to looking at very large landscapes that
can be protected and used to provide carbon offset
programs, potentially using green bonds for the
acquisition. There has also been a sharp increase in
the number of both corporate and private owners of
large parcels coming forward to seek conservation
certification for properties they own. They are looking for technical and stewardship advice from leading conservation organizations to understand how to
better manage their forestry or prairie resources to
enhance their carbon sequestration potential. That's
also happening in Europe at scale.

ERIXON:

DAVIS: We are still waiting to see what happens to
the energy performance of buildings, with so many
office buildings unoccupied. On the other hand,
energy consumption in multifamily buildings may
be going up because more people are at home all
day long. People are still sorting out the systemic
changes in energy consumption patterns across

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portfolios. Sustainability is still something our clients are paying attention to. We are helping some
of them develop technical guidelines on how to
improve energy efficiency in office buildings in the
time of COVID, to see if they need to change operational standards while waiting for tenants to come
back to the office.
MEHNERT: This is where Hawaii shines. We have
programs like Hawai'i Green Growth [HGG], a United
Nations Local2030 hub that brings together stakeholders that are committed to economic, social,
and environmental priorities. There is the public/
private Aloha+ Challenge, a statewide commitment
to achieve Hawaii's sustainability goals. I already
mentioned the Sustainable Business Forum, which
invests in initiatives related to sustainability; recently,
it helped initiate a carbon offset program, and it
invests in partners and startup companies that
combat climate change. One of these companies
developed a way to collect carbon dioxide from
industrial uses, convert it into a mineral, and inject
it into concrete. Because Hawaii is an island state,
construction is very expensive-not only because of
the cost of land, but also because almost all material
needs to be shipped here. So, if we can manufacture
concrete here on our own and keep carbon dioxide
from releasing as a gas, that is a wonderful thing.
McCABE: Large real estate companies are increasing staff in the areas of sustainability, health,
and wellness, and they are laying out aggressive
net-zero-carbon objectives. The effects of climate
change we're experiencing-flooding, extraordinary
heat in Arizona and elsewhere, wildfires in the
West-are turning the corner on climate change and
helping people recognize that if we do not have a
habitable planet with a stable climate, we will not
survive as a species. A number of insurance companies are taking a look at risk and exposure. And
I wonder how long we'll continue to have 30-year
mortgages. Using our resources wisely, promoting
diversity and equity, is being seen as the better
business decision than strictly looking at the tradi-

SPRING 2021

3/30/21 1:49 PM

Spring 2021 Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spring 2021 Issue