New industry research from BCIT and ClimateFirst explores how Canadian real estate leaders are turning climate goals into practical decisions about buildings, capital and operations.
The real estate industry has made significant progress in understanding why climate action matters. The challenge is increasingly shifting from building awareness to figuring out how to act.
To explore that challenge, the BCIT Zero Energy/Emissions Buildings Learning Centre engaged ClimateFirst Building Solutions to examine how leading Canadian real estate organizations are integrating climate considerations into building asset management and decision-making.
The resulting industry report, Unlocking Business Value through Climate-Aligned Building Asset Management, draws on interviews with senior leaders from 10 Canadian real estate organizations representing public and private ownership, investment management, development, building operations and a range of asset classes.
Executive Summary
The research identifies nine lessons for translating climate goals into practical action. One message came through consistently: climate action gains traction when it is connected to the way organizations already make business decisions.
Across the interviews, three themes were particularly important:
- Translate climate information into business language. Connect climate considerations to risk, operating performance, lifecycle costs, business continuity, asset value and other outcomes that matter to decision-makers.
- Create clear accountability for action. Identifying a risk does not necessarily mean someone has the authority, resources or budget to address it. Clear ownership and decision pathways are critical to implementation.
- Use existing business processes to drive implementation. Capital planning, equipment replacement, maintenance, procurement, due diligence and building renewal all create opportunities to integrate climate considerations into decisions that organizations are already making.
The research also highlights the importance of collaboration between sustainability, engineering, operations, asset management, finance and leadership. Moving from assessment to implementation requires these groups to connect climate information with practical investment and operational decisions.
For us at ClimateFirst, the research reinforces an important shift we are seeing across the industry. The challenge is increasingly not generating more climate information. It is translating that information into decisions that asset managers, engineers, operators, finance teams and executives can act on.
Turning Research into Action
The research is also being put into practice through BCIT’s Unlocking Business Value through Climate-Aligned Building Asset Management micro credential. The program is designed to help building owners, asset managers, facilities professionals, consultants and business leaders connect climate considerations with building asset management and capital planning.
Ultimately, both the research and the course reflect the same shift: from building awareness of climate risk to building the capacity to act on it.
Read the Full Report
Read Unlocking Business Value through Climate-Aligned Building Asset Management to explore all nine lessons and their practical implications for climate-aligned building asset management.