COMMENT In many ways, CREtech’s first climate conference was wasted on its attendees.
As a statement devoid of context, I appreciate that this sounds harsh. But I am confident that most, if not all, of the 125 delegates who joined forces for the event in Copenhagen last week would agree.
The content was everything it needed to be. Sobering, terrifying, honest, unfiltered, inspiring and – in many ways – hopeful. But the people who needed to hear it most were not in the room.
The CREtech climate global leadership summit was an echo chamber. A small group of people who get it, telling a slightly larger group of people who get it what the vast swathe of people who don’t get it need to do to prevent us from hitting the brick wall we are all hurtling towards at 100 miles an hour.
That is why the most important part of this event, as with any event, discussion or debate around the subject of decarbonising the built environment, is the aftermath.
The real value lies in how the messages and learnings are passed on, who these messages reach and, crucially, how moved people are to act.
New message
The people in this case are those with the influence to do something about the statistic we are now all too familiar with – that the real estate sector is responsible for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions.
The sad truth, and one that was spoken about at length at the CREtech conference, is that this statistic is likely not going to be the catalyst for any significant change. The promise of financial gains and business opportunities, however, might stand a chance at instilling a widespread mindset shift.
This isn’t to say that anyone and everyone in real estate who wasn’t in the room at the event in Copenhagen has no regard for our planet. It’s not to say that every property company out there will need to see what the commercial benefit of action will be before changing the way it develops, designs, manages and repurposes real estate. But it is true of a huge chunk of our industry.
So the message needs to change. Preaching won’t work and we are running out of time. If it’s cold, hard cash that gets people moving, so be it.
It has long been the suspicion of many that a huge number of ESG and climate-related action and policies within real estate are financially, rather than ethically, driven. So does it matter if the messages change to make that official? Among those who are motivated to act because they don’t want to leave a dark, desolate planet for future generations, see entire species wiped out or watch as more severe weather events destroy lives, communities and land across the globe, this might be a hard pill to swallow.
Money talks
But the fact of the matter is that the responsibility also lies with the converts to further effect change. It is their responsibility to accept that action spurred on by a desire to chase financial gain is exponentially better than no action at all. And let’s be honest, money is a pretty powerful driving force. It has influence, it sparks motivation in a way that many other drivers can’t, and it gets those people and businesses with the real power moving.
For all the talk around analysis paralysis and the industry simply feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the task at hand, the real issue is that people don’t like change. It is hard work, it is an unknown, and it comes with a lot of additional headaches.
If the battle cry that real estate needs to go through all of this change to save the planet isn’t working, then perversely it isn’t the industry that needs to adapt – it’s the activists, those spreading the word who need to reposition themselves. It will be hard work. But it’s the right thing to do. Money talks. When it comes to decarbonising the built environment, let’s just let it talk.
And maybe next year the content at CREtech’s second climate summit will reach those who really need to hear it first hand.
To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @EGPropertyNews
