Viewpoint: Boston's business community must answer climate change call - Boston Business Journal - The Business Journals

Viewpoint: Boston’s business community must answer climate change call - Boston Business Journal

Increasingly, the eyes of the world are focused on tangible and significant manifestations of climate change — atmospheric rivers on the West Coast, loss of glaciers worldwide, droughts in the Southwest of the United States. As a report from The Boston Foundation showed us, we have a lot of work to do in our own backyard: The city of Boston is lagging behind in its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Boston is not alone in falling short of its commitments. It was made abundantly clear at COP27 that many cities and countries are reporting significant challenges on their paths to their desired climate performance. So, we must answer why this is the case and what can Boston do to get back on track?

First, we must find out what is contributing to the city’s overall climate impacts, then identify opportunities to do better. The 2019 greenhouse gas inventory revealed that municipally owned and operated infrastructure — buildings and vehicles (school buses, emergency services, public works) contributed to 138,000 metric tons to the city’s overall greenhouse-gas footprint. Communitywide, 51% of emissions came from commercial and industrial buildings, 30% from transportation and 19% from small residential buildings.

These inventories highlight the importance of obtaining data to determine reasonable and achievable climate goals. Boston’s local building code, BERDO, is intended to do that by requiring property owners to report energy-usage data — and, as of 2021, comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions data — for large buildings. However, complying with such regulations is a significant undertaking: Systems must be deployed, data quality checked and resources need to be dedicated to collect, compile and report the results.

Ongoing engagement with the private sector is essential. Commercial real estate companies and corporations with large energy intensive campuses must have a seat at the table, many of which have already set aggressive climate action goals including net zero targets. For example, Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), which manages 4.6 billion square feet of real estate globally, has been collecting and compiling emissions data across its many service lines for decades — it was one of the first real estate companies with a net-zero target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. If the real estate industry is to decarbonize, a complete shift in how buildings are operated and managed is required. JLL estimates that it will cost $3 trillion to retrofit the office stock alone and building owners cannot take this on without help.

As in JLL’s own approach across its portfolio including its properties in Boston, sustainability should be integrated into the entire real estate lifecycle from site selection phase, all the way through to the end-of-lease and at every point in between. The results are telling — JLL’s offices use 15% less energy and 25% less embodied carbon, which translates into an annual cost savings of over $2 million.

Returns like these show us the private sector not only has a pivotal role to play in helping the city address climate change but — if done thoughtfully — can also realize significant return on their investments. With a collaborative approach, Boston’s business community and commercial building sector can be a pivotal difference maker as we move to tackle the climate crisis with a greater sense of urgency.

Matthew Gardner is managing partner for Sustainserv. Zoe Reich is Vice President, ESG Advisory Lead, Northeast Region, with commercial real estate firm JLL.

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