Insights

May 9, 2011

Corporate/Investment Real Estate Professionals Focus on the Deployment of Enterprise Energy and Carbon Accounting Software

The real estate footprint boundaries of large companies and real estate owners have expanded, subsequently the challenge to measure, manage, report and reduce energy and carbon data efficiently and accurately to support portfolio-wide sustainability strategies have increased.

This challenge has immediate and particularized relevance for the users of corporate real estate, the owners of corporate real estate, and investor-advisors invested in corporate real estate. On April 21^st, the Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. (SR Inc.) released a management best practices research report entitled “Deploying Enterprise Energy and Carbon Accounting (EECA) Software,” that provides practical guidance on software selection and implementation. To access the report, GO TO http://www.sustainround.com/research/EECA.php

SR Inc. clients who provided case studies include Adobe, Autodesk, Intuit, and Brookfield Properties. Among other findings, the report highlights that:

• The key drivers for deploying EECA software today to manage GHG emissions include cost control, disclosure requests, brand enhancement, and new, superior technological solutions.
• The deployment of EECA has significant benefits over the use of spreadsheets and complements other enterprise systems.
• Careful initial planning and decision-making throughout the three deployment phases (selection, implementation, utilization) can reduce risks and maximize the benefits of EECA.
• The use of EECA as a management tool first, and reporting tool second, enhances sustainable value creation across the enterprise.

Over the past three years, the market for software to manage sustainability metrics and produce management, regulatory, and voluntary reports has exploded, with over 200 vendors offering products of varying maturity. Since real estate is one of the leading sources of corporate GHG emissions, primarily due to purchased energy use, one software class—known as ‘enterprise energy and carbon accounting’ (EECA) — has become the preferred approach for priority sustainability data management and reporting.

While some research is available on the EECA market size, market share and characteristics of the leading vendors and products, there has been little decision-support for real estate executives on the selection, procurement, and implementation of EECA software until the SR Inc. report was released.

Michael Gresty, SR Inc.’s Executive Vice President of Research and Consulting, observed that “while numerous companies have already deployed EECA solutions, many more have not, and are looking for guidance about why and how to do so from the early adopters. Our client-sourced best practice report includes strictly vendor-neutral step-by-step guidance on deployment by corporate real estate executives.”

Enterprise-wide information systems have become the fabric in today’s corporate/investor landscape but, with the emergence on the importance to track and report carbon emissions, manage sustainability initiatives and gauge success call for a new class of software – enterprise energy carbon accounting and SR Inc.’s guidance on how to deploy it successfully.

How does your organization track, measure and report its’ carbon emissions and sustainability initiatives?