2023 Spring Issue - 13

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on the guidelines and enforcement
on businesses. Institutional investors
are rightfully demonstrating more
scrutiny in their capital deployments
too and asking more nuanced questions
about ESG in their due diligence,
with an expectation of substantive responses.
These demands for greater
and more transparent disclosures
from many in the investment community
signal the rising importance of
alignment on ESG. Successful investment
managers will not be able to " get
by " with greenwashed responses that
punt problem solving down the road
or offer up superficial solutions that
obfuscate the issues that our industry
must clearly take accountability for.
ESG performance is married to
data
ESG performance requires timely
data capture, meaningful analyses,
and quality reporting data enablement
is an indispensable element of
our fiduciary responsibility, and across
our platform, we are making investments
that allow uniform and high-integrity
data to give us a view into the
future and deliver insights that inform
our present-day decisions.
Strategies that are geared towards
building long-term asset value cannot
ignore what the data tells us about
the ecosystem of ESG variables that
surround an asset and define the
challenges or opportunities that our
buildings must be prepared to confront.
Ignoring those insights is a risk
that real estate investors should not
be willing to take.
Risk mitigation
Simple fact: more volatile climate
events are increasing in frequency
and intensity. Investment managers
would be remiss not to include climate
change factors in risk evaluations and
resiliency schemes that prepare for
the worst with reinforcements that
preserve value for investors and provide
advantages to tenants. Real
assets need real ESG strategies oth " A
high-aptitude team with
intentional integration
into the investment
and asset management
processes is how ESG
initiatives are fortified and
poised to deliver value.
"
tal footprints. Companies that ignore
ESG risk may be stuck with a portfolio
of buildings that do not align with
their tenants' priorities.
You cannot outsource your firm's
ESG strategy
Companies have to develop largescale
solutions today to meet the
standards for ESG performance that
will be incumbent upon us in the future.
It cannot be punted to the next
generation. It cannot be paused.
Commitments like " net zero by 2050 "
seem lofty and too far away to matter
today. But it takes decades of
erwise the cost of negligence is borne
by investors.
Stakeholder and tenant needs
Our tenants' needs are front and centre
in our considerations and they are
increasingly showing up to the negotiating
table with sophisticated needs
to meet their own net zero and environmental
commitments. Increasingly,
they are viewing their real estate
footprint as an important part of their
demonstration of corporate responsibility.
Landlords are joining forces
with their tenants to drive efficiency
gains and drive down environmen " right "
decisions to tackle big climate
ambitions and an in-house team of
dedicated professionals to drive the
necessary disruption.
If there is no team, there is no action.
People do the heavy lifting on
ESG through data analysis, program
and tool development, innovation,
and strategic planning. A high-aptitude
team with intentional integration
into the investment and asset
management processes is how ESG
initiatives are fortified and poised to
deliver value. At BentallGreenOak, a
dozen business and functional leaders
are dedicated full-time to ESG. In
partnership across global teams, they
ensure ESG considerations are integrated
across asset lifecycles and
aligned with client goals. They work
alongside our investment professionals
by necessity and problem-solve as
a unit. They too require commitment
and long-term investment to build up a
collective competency that cannot be
replicated through outsourced help.
BentallGreenOak has been a leader in
sustainability for more than a decade,
and in that time, we have weathered
geopolitical instability, social and political
unrest, and economic disruption,
knowing that our convictions cannot
crumble in the face of challenge.
Real estate investment managers can
play a powerful role in the transition
to a low-carbon economy - and our
stakeholders are counting on us to
do so.
So, when times are tough, we will continue
to abide by our commitments to
ESG and stay the course we have set.
It is simply good business.
Learn more about BGO's
approach to sustainable investing
at: BGO.com/ESG
SPRING 2023
URBAN LAND
13
http://www.BGO.com
2023 Spring Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2023 Spring Issue
