Value Beyond Cost Savings - Green Building Finance Consortium

Appendix GSustainable Property Cost-Benefit ChecklistPotential Property Benefits Description of Benefit Applicability Analysis 106commercial space in the United States government owned,and significantly more in many other countries(approximately 13% of which is office space), this is asignificant market that will have broader influence onleasing policies throughout the country. 113must take into consideration not only sustainability issues,but also the suitability of the subject property relative toother minimum requirements of government tenantsrelated to security and other issues.3. Increased demand fromvendors/supply chain requiredby big customers (GE, Wal-Mart, etc.) to be moresustainableMany large companies like General Electric and Wal-Martare beginning to put sustainability requirements on theirvendors and others in their supply chain to be moresustainable. These initiatives have grown over time, andwhile relatively small today, are likely to increase.Evidence of this phenomenon can be ascertained for aproperty in a particular marketplace by studying the profileof tenants in the marketplace. Again, this is just another ofthe many issues influencing space user demand, but islikely to grow. For example, nearly 1,500 globalbusinesses signed on to the United Nation’s GlobalCompact in 2008, signaling the growing interest ofbusinesses that want to align their practices with theinitiatives in environmental, social, and governanceprinciples.Approximately 7% of the 700-plus respondents in theannual survey of Global Compact participants indicatedthat they require Global Compact participation whenselecting suppliers. About a third said they extended theircommitment to the Global Compact to their subsidiaries.While these numbers are still small, they represent asignificant and growing trend to extend the leadership ofcertain powerful companies on sustainability issues downthrough the supply chain.4. Increased demand fromtenants with direct tie tosustainability business—architects, engineers,consultants, contractors,lawyers, energy firms, productcompanies, etc. etc.There are a growing number of tenants that have a directtie to the sustainable property business: architects,engineers, consultants, contractors, lawyers, energy firms,product companies, etc. etc.There is increasing evidence of the growing size of thesustainable property market and companies with directties to the industry. For example, membership in the U.S.Green Building Council has grown dramatically to nearly19,000, with over 81,000 LEED-accreditedprofessionals. 1145. Increased demand from Demand from space users is also heightened by those Demographics can play a key role here with younger113 “Who plays and who decides; the structure and operation of the commercial building market,” March 2004, Innovologie, LLC for DOE.114 U.S. Green Building Council, February 2009.265