The
Sustainability Journey
A guide to turning sustainability into portfolio performance — how real estate owners and operators connect data, reporting, and action to measurable business outcomes.
What’s inside
A practical framework, market data, and real customer outcomes across three capability tracks.
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What should our sustainability journey actually look like? What should we be planning for, and how do we make sure we are getting the full value from our sustainability efforts?
Real Estate Sustainability Leader, Customer Conversation
Why this guide
A real estate market reset is underway.
Investors are more selective
$950B
In CRE mortgages set to mature in 2024 — climbing toward $1.26 trillion by 2027.
Source: S&P
Energy costs are escalating
+36%
Increase in European electricity prices from 2019–2024. U.S. prices rose 26%.
Source: IEA, JP Morgan
Climate risk has become financial risk
+88%
Climate risk has become Increase in U.S. CRE insurance premiums since 2021 as climate volatility intensifies.
Source: JLL, Swiss Re
Compliance is more complex
41%
Of the world’s 75 largest cities now enforce building performance standards.
Source: JLL
Real estate owners and operators are facing a different set of pressures than they were just a few years ago. Higher operating costs, changing investor expectations, climate exposure, and expanding regulation are placing more scrutiny on how buildings perform and where organizations invest.
These forces have moved sustainability out of the sustainability team’s inbox and into decisions about NOI, capital planning, and enterprise risk. At the same time, most teams are being asked to do more with less — less staff, less budget, less runway.
The Sustainability Journey maps the capabilities organizations need across Data Management, Reporting & Insights, and Portfolio Performance, helping teams see where they stand today and what to build next
The framework
The Sustainability Journey
A practical framework for turning sustainability activity into measurable business outcomes — across three connected tracks and five stages of maturity.
Most portfolios progress across all three tracks at once — maturity is rarely even, and it can evolve in either direction as regulations and technology shift.
Data Management
Build a foundation of high-quality, trusted data.
Reporting & Insights
Meet reporting requirements and deliver decision-ready insights.
Portfolio Performance
Improve asset performance and reduce emissions.
The payoff
What stronger sustainability capabilities can unlock
When data, reporting, and action work together, teams can connect sustainability performance to measurable business outcomes.
- Higher NOI
- Stronger capital access
- Lower carbon emissions
- Greater tenant satisfaction
- Stronger transparency
- Regulatory compliance
- Lower risk exposure
- Audit-ready data
- Reduced workload