Green Building Performance Benchmarking

At GreenCheck we understand the importance of sustainability performance benchmarking in the Canadian real estate industry and beyond. It’s important to raise awareness of sustainability efforts and discuss the benefits of benchmarking as well as why it is crucial for building owners and managers to implement it into their larger corporate strategies.

First, let’s define sustainability performance benchmarking. Sustainability performance benchmarking is the process of measuring and comparing the environmental, social, and economic performance of buildings. It involves collecting data on a building’s energy consumption, water usage, waste generation, indoor air quality, and other sustainability metrics, then comparing the results to industry benchmarks and best practices.

Now, let’s explore the benefits of sustainability performance benchmarking in the Canadian real estate industry:

Identifying areas for improvement: Benchmarking allows building owners and managers to identify areas where they can improve the sustainability performance of their buildings. For example, they may discover that their building is consuming more energy than other benchmarked similar buildings, indicating the need for further investigation and/or energy efficiency upgrades. You can’t manage, what you don’t measure!

Meeting regulatory requirements: In many Canadian jurisdictions, building owners are required to report their building’s energy and water usage as part of their regulatory obligations. If you are in Ontario, you should review our blog on EWRB regulatory changes here. Sustainability benchmarking provides a way to meet these requirements while meeting compliance standards.

Attracting & retaining tenants: Tenants are increasingly looking for sustainable buildings to lease. Strong performance can build a positive reputation and attract like-minded tenants. Additionally, current tenants appreciate benefits like cost savings that energy-efficient buildings provide.

Increasing asset value: Sustainable buildings can have a higher asset value than non-sustainable buildings. Benchmarking can help communicate the performance of the building to important stakeholders and investors. Additionally, it can help building owners and managers make informed decisions about sustainability investments. For example, if benchmarking indicates that a building is consuming a significant amount of energy, building owners can use this information to prioritize energy efficiency upgrades.

Gaining a competitive advantage: Benchmarking allows building owners and managers to compare their sustainability performance to that of their peers (both internal and external). This can help identify areas where they may be falling behind their competitors and provide a way to improve their competitiveness over time.

In addition to these benefits, it is also an important tool for achieving sustainability goals. By tracking sustainability metrics over time, building owners and managers can monitor progress toward sustainability goals/targets and adjust strategies as needed. We have always been big believers in – you can’t manage what you don’t measure!

Simply put, sustainability benchmarking is both necessary and beneficial for today’s real estate owners and asset managers. It provides a way to identify areas for improvement, meet regulatory requirements, attract tenants, increase asset value, improve competitiveness, and help make informed decisions around sustainable investments and corporate strategy. At GreenCheck, we strongly recommend that building owners and managers implement sustainability performance benchmarking as part of their sustainability strategies.