Longevity Partners is expanding to the US in a bid to become the first international specialist real estate sustainability advisory firm.
The expansion comes as president-elect Joe Biden pushes the green agenda back up the list of priorities in the US.
Longevity, which is run by EG Future of Real Estate award winner and former Rising Star Étienne Cadestin, is opening three offices in the country – in Austin, San Francisco and New York – and has hired Anneli Tostar, formerly of the Better Buildings Partnership, to help build the business.
It is also continuing its expansion in Europe with a new office in Munich, Germany.
“Carbon emissions have no frontiers,” says Cadestin of the expansion. “Every country has to be involved and do its part.”
He adds: “The US has emitted more carbon emissions than any other country in the world and they do need help.”
US plays catch-up
Cadestin believes the progress Europe has made – in terms of policy and national target setting, and how the real estate sector has placed ESG at the heart of its business strategy – will provide useful tools for the US built environment as it plays catch-up with much of the rest of the world.
“The dislocation compared with Europe is the appetite, target setting and the difference in vision for the low-carbon economy,” says Cadestin. “In Europe we’re setting up net zero carbon strategies that are integrated in the heart of a fund’s modus operandi. In the US, for some funds, this would be seen as a bit extreme.
“But they do understand that there’s a correlation between energy efficiency, sustainability performance of assets and wellbeing and the value of properties.”
He adds: “There is a willingness to drive change from the American government, which was not the case in the previous Trump administration. That has given people hope that things are going to get addressed at a systemic level.”
The move into America isn’t completely unknown territory for Longevity. It already has a growing portfolio of US-based clients, including CBRE Global Investors, LaSalle Investment Management, Principal and Barings.
But Cadestin is eager to push further into the country and around the globe.
“We’re sort of in a rush,” he says. “The clock is ticking. We need to reduce carbon emissions drastically by 2030, otherwise it is going to have a long-term irreversible impact on everyone.”
Asian ambitions
After establishing in the US, Cadestin has his sights firmly set on Asia – a continent that he says is even further behind on the net zero journey than America – and is aiming to open an office in Singapore before the end of 2022.
But for now, Cadestin is packing his bags (and his newly acquired Stetson) to move his family to Austin to lead the new North American business from its Texan HQ.
“I would never have believed that I would be driving the climate agenda from Austin, Texas,” says Cadestin, harking back to his early career with the United Nations working on defining the green economy and his selection as an EG Rising Star in 2017.
“Back in the days when I was a Rising Star, someone asked me what I thought was going to happen,” he says. “I said: ‘Well, I think that in 2050 your building will be valued on your carbon output.’ People thought I was a bit mad, but actually, it has come true.”
Even in America.
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