The Responsible Property Investing Center (www.responsibleproperty.net) – a joint venture between the University of Arizona and Harvard University's Initiative for Responsible Investment -- has been representing the US in the global sustainability movement for years.  The group believes strongly that everyone involved in property use, investment and management, especially institutional investors and corporations, has a responsibility to make assets sustainable.

In fact, in many corporations around the world, corporate sustainability has entered the C-suite with a permanent position and responsibility meriting a title:  “CSO” or Corporate Sustainability Officer.

While many Americans are still unaware of the importance that sustainability has been playing in corporate life worldwide, this country has now begun to reach out through groups like the RPIC to educate them.  Interestingly enough, the commercial real estate industry has become a corporate partner in their movement, motivated by operational savings and competitive leasing demands to become a partner and a catalyst to help corporate America catch up with the rest of the global business community. 

While many of the assets in a corporate portfolio are utilitarian and company- owned, many of the office and industrial uses are in fact leased.  Institutional investors and their investment fund sponsors and property managers control many of those assets.  The model is fairly new, but for investment companies like Detroit-based MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors, LLC and its property management resource of choice, Portfolio Property Management Global, a respected property management firm based in Boca Raton, Florida, the effort to create and install sustainability programs has been an ongoing project for some time. 

Beyond the “feel good” returns, MayfieldGentry and PPM Global strongly believe that their efforts to reduce a carbon footprint also result in reductions in overhead costs, and an increase in the fiscal return to investors.

In designing their sustainability mission, the companies believed the approach needed to be organized and pragmatic, like in a corporate regimen, and be based on a “triple-bottom line,” a system designed to measure the company's complete commitment to both the social and physical environment. 

The three environments that needed to be addressed to insure a complete approach included:

1. Physical Environment:

·Spin-Up: Use best practices that are both responsible and economically sustainable.

·Educate: Adopt a management system that continuously educates staff on ways to improve performance in dealing with and understanding environmental sustainability.

·Implement: Use products and services that consider social, economic and environmental impacts.

·Conserve: Use less electricity, gas and water plus reduce, reuse and recycle.

2. Social Environment:

·Fairness: Employ a progressive diversity program.

·Leadership/Followership: Leadership has a genuine concern for the welfare of the entire “community” (providing a fun, safe, educational, purpose-driven, values-centered, sustainable place to be a compensated employee).

·“Volunteer” Model: To support the idea that we are all volunteers, the authority in our organization comes from its intent, mission and values.

3. Economic Environment:

·Fiscal Objectivity: “It isn't sustainable to lose financially.”  We must find ways that serve our physical, social and economic environment commitments.

PPM Global appointed a senior vice president of the company to serve as director of the program, and of the newly-created Corporate Sustainability protocol.  A Sustainability Council was also established to assist with ongoing efforts to embed sustainable practices in PPM Global's Workplace, Workforce, Processes, Products & Services, and Governance Structures.

Senior managers from business and operating units across the company serve on the council and help to guide and shape the company's sustainability strategy and initiatives.  The director of the Corporate Sustainability Office reports to the company's Chief Executive Officer, making periodic reports on the progress of the program to the company's Board of Directors.

During 2009, the accomplishments of the Corporate Sustainability Program included:

·Development of a formal sustainability strategy and detailed action plans for the first two years of the program.

·Redesign of the corporate key performance indicators to enable them to seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

·Completion of energy audits and sustainability assessments of various existing company buildings to identify energy efficient opportunities and candidates for potential upgrades to the LEED standard for existing buildings or Energy Star designation.  Eventually, the corporate standard will have every property in the current PPM Global portfolio benchmarked in both the LEED and Energy Star program.

·Expansion of recycling programs for paper and electronics, including partnering with green firms to create national contracts for items such as comingling of trash, waste hauling, etc.

·Launch of a series of multi-year technology optimization initiatives to reduce our consumption of paper, our use of electricity, our generation of waste, and our contributions to GHG emissions from corporate business travel. (Skype, Go To Meeting, video conferencing, etc.)

·Launch of a series of multi-year technology optimization initiatives to reduce consumption of building utilities such as electricity, water, natural gas, steam, etc. (BMS upgrades, VFD installs, lighting retrofits, etc.).  As an example, in an 18-month plan at One Detroit Center, working in partnership with the owner, PPM Global and a national technology contracted service provider performed energy efficient upgrades to the building's major mechanical systems. The group installed a complete building management system (BMS) upgrade to a web-based state-of-the-art system, replaced all major fan system motor controllers to VFDs (Variable Frequency Drives) and performed a complete energy audit to the 1 million square foot building to optimize building operations in relations to energy consumption and sustainability best practices. This resulted in a first year savings (Dec, 2008-Dec, 2009) of approximately 24 percent on overall electrical, steam, and domestic water utilities. One Detroit Center has, with these savings and optimized energy performance, recently received the prestigious Energy Star Certification.

John Guardiola, is the vice president of engineering, and chief sustainability officer, Portfolio Property Management Global LLC. For more information, visit www.ppm-global.com.