How to Build a Sustainable Real Estate Portfolio

Did you know that real estate accounts for about 40% of the world’s energy consumption? It also takes up a whopping 1/3 of carbon emissions!

Real estate professionals are one of the major frontlines of climate change risk caused by greenhouse gas emissions. As such, there is a big responsibility to reduce the significant impact of facilities. Fortunately, many investors, occupiers, and building owners are taking the steps to do so.

While one can take a sustainable real estate course, we can also begin by learning how to build a sustainable real estate portfolio. We share tips to do so below.

1.Leverage Renewable Energy

You should consider implementing renewable energy solutions, which is an easy and cost-effective way to introduce sustainability to your real estate portfolio. Many solutions come without any upfront costs at all. You can start off by finding a different energy service for your properties using cleaner energy sources, which can reduce your carbon emissions for environment-friendliness.

2.Use Sustainable Construction Methods

Buildings play a huge role in carbon emissions as they are one of the biggest consumers of fossil fuel-based energy. Besides adopting renewable energy, you can also use leading building technologies to reduce energy consumption from any source.

Combine that with smart building management tools, a high-efficiency smart building system can be updated constantly to reduce energy costs and support workplace services to improve human work experiences.

3.Obtain Green Building Certifications

Building construction and operations have a massive direct and indirect impact on our environment. Property developers adopt the LEED standards of the US Green Building Council, but there are also other certifications to obtain and pursue. This will help you stand out from the competition and let the community know you care for the environment and tenant welfare.

There are numerous certification bodies to look into, where they list their requirements online for you to pass to obtain such certificates. The areas these certifications may include:

Energy efficiency
Water efficiency
Investing in quality filtration systems
Using environment-friendly cleaning products
Using renewable and recyclable materials during the construction process

4.Smart Building Systems

Modern technology and digitalization has created a significant impact on the efficiency of any building system. Unfortunately, not all property owners would take the time or spend on these.

However, it is worth looking into investing in smart building systems as you can reduce your energy consumption by up to 10%!

5.Work with Sustainable Facility Management Vendors

From something as small as paper towels to services like landscaping or window cleaning, commercial buildings will always rely on various vendors for daily operations.

When you choose service providers and suppliers who possess solid sustainability practices, you can further extend your sustainability efforts as well. For instance, look into the waste haulers you plan to work with by checking their recycling practices, ensuring they are on par with the industry average.