Now That Net-Zero Discussions Have Reached The Boardroom, Accurate Data On Asset Performance Is Essential

Most large organisations understand the need to reduce carbon emissions. But many don’t know how to collect the vital data they need to underpin any strategic decisions and, if they do have the data, how to create a viable plan.

Without concrete information, they risk losing a competitive edge and making the wrong investment and divestment decisions — or simply making no decisions at all.

This is the message from environmental, social and corporate governance data intelligence company Deepki’s vice president of UK and Ireland and global sales, Colin Brown. Property owners need to invest in platforms that autonomously and reliably collect the data they need, especially as conversations around sustainability become more prevalent. 

“The environmental performance of an asset is now a topic for boardroom discussion, as sustainability has come together with commercial implications,” he said. “And you can’t make investment decisions of this nature based on gut feel. They need to be data-driven. Once you understand the current situation and risks surrounding each asset, you can understand the investment necessary to bring an asset in line.”

Many property owners have signed pledges to aim for net-zero by 2050. Few, however, have made concrete plans to map out how a business with a large property portfolio will get there, Brown said. This is often due to two common challenges. 

The first issue is a lack of reliable data. Often, scale is a big issue, as property owners have a large number of assets and don’t have the systems in place to automatically capture their data, Brown said. As a result, they aren’t always conscious of what information they do and don’t have.

“Some landlords might not have access to the data due to old infrastructure,” he said. “Putting meter readings into Excel spreadsheets is error-prone and manual — before data can be analysed, often asset managers have spent 80% of their time collecting and verifying it. They are also likely to experience a gap in data, perhaps due to broken equipment, and it could be several months before anyone realises, by which point it is too late.” 

During Deepki’s second ESG Index webinar, 70% of attendees said that missing or inaccurate data was the main obstacle they had to overcome. 

The second challenge is that when asset managers have the data, they often don’t know what to do with it. Specifically, they are unsure of how to use the data to inform a net-zero pathway. Brown said that Deepki’s customers often say they have ample data, but they consider it either unusable due to concerns over accuracy or don’t know how to leverage it to inform future plans. 

“It can be a real jump to go from meter readings to strategising about how to invest £20M in a building to bring down its carbon emissions,” he said. “When it comes to strategic commercial decisions, quality data should feature heavily in the decision-making process. Today, for several reasons, that isn’t happening.”

Recognising property owners' lack of clear, usable data, Deepki has created a platform that allows customers to collect data remotely and autonomously. By connecting to new and existing hardware across properties to generate readings, the platform generates and presents insights in such a way that investors and asset managers can make decisions. 

The company has put significant effort into honing the autonomous aspect of the platform, Brown said. Getting this right ensures the quality and reliability of customers’ data. Deepki also supports customers with implementation and enablement to ensure that users are trained to get the most out of it, from property managers all the way to the board level. 

“Once the data is right, we help customers create and execute a plan,” Brown said. “Our experts advise customer strategies such as the pathway to net-zero and how best to meet upcoming regulations. It’s on us to ensure their investment plans are future-proofed and they have full visibility into their buildings’ performance.”

Brown said the ultimate goal is to reduce the environmental impact of real estate. This is no small task. A Bisnow analysis found that most of the world’s 75 largest institutional investors don’t track their tenants’ emissions or the carbon created during construction. 

However, the industry is starting to understand the risks created when building performance is overlooked, Brown said. He outlined three risk areas, all linked to ESG. 

First is the risk of reducing an asset’s attractiveness to investors if you can’t demonstrate its ESG credentials. Second is its attractiveness to tenants, as increasingly a tenant won’t shortlist buildings with poor ESG credentials. Finally, there is the risk of stranded assets that are unlettable if properties have emissions that exceed future regulations.

“Reducing these risks boils down to gathering solid, reliable data that leads to meaningful, actionable insights and a plan,” he said. “You need to be able to look back at that plan and understand its impact. Do you need to accelerate? Do you need to change your strategy? It goes full circle. But it all starts with getting the data right.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Deepki and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.