Sustainability Trends in 2012

2012 is finally upon us and it's time to look at the sustainability trends for the new year.

The last few years have been pretty challenging, with the financial crisis and the efforts by climate denialists to make it appear that it's all business as usual. But perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to sustainability is the "lack of consistent and comparable standards for defining and measuring sustainability," says Dan Probst, chairman of energy and sustainability services at Jones Lang LaSalle, an international financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate.

Probst has spotted four major trends that will shape sustainability-related actions in 2012. One of them is transparency. "Five major U.S. cities and two states have enacted energy performance measurement and disclosure policies to date, and nine more cities and states have bills under considerations, to help tenants and investors make better informed decisions. Buildings in Europe are required to display energy performance certificates, and Australia is implementing similar requirements," he said.

There's some revealing data to back up his claim. In 2011, more than 3,000 companies, including 404 Global 500 firms, voluntarily reported their carbon emissions, water management and climate change policies to Carbon Disclosure Project in 2011, perhaps swayed by CDP's 551 investor members, who use the information to make decisions regarding $71 trillion in investment capital.

Transparency is also on the rise at the city level. CDP invited 58 cities worldwide to report sustainability related data for the first time in 2011, and 42 responded, with 38 of them making their responses public. In 2012 CDP Cities will be expanding its request to 150 cities.

Probst also believes global consistency will be a major sustainability trend in 2012. He says deeper sustainability reporting by cities and corporations has intensified the need for consistent ways to measure the effectiveness of energy, water and other sustainability strategies on a global basis. He mentions LEED as an example. The building sustainability rating system originated in the U.S. is now frequently used in many countries with their own systems, as owners seek to attract international tenants. Energy Star, the U.S. EPA energy benchmarking standard, will soon be able to provide accurate ratings across North America, thanks to a new cooperative agreement with Canada. And in 2011 the International Organization for Standardization released the ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems, which includes specifications for measurement, documentation and reporting on energy consumption.

2012 will also see more public and private collaboration, Probst foresees. The Better Buildings Challenge, a $4 billion energy retrofit commitment announced in December by the U.S. federal government and 60 CEOs, mayors, university presidents, and labor leaders, is a clear example of the private/public nexus. The eight-year initiative includes $2 billion in energy upgrades of federal buildings and another $2 billion of private capital to improve energy by 20 percent in buildings totaling 1.5 billion square feet.

Finally, there will be more focus on solar energy in 2012. Probst says the growth seen in 2011 will carry forward into 2012, albeit at a slower pace. Commercial properties have driven growth, although utility-based installations saw a 325 percent rise between the second and third quarters. He predicts several variables will determine the fate of solar in 2012, such as basic supply and demand economics, technological improvements, and the amount and type of available incentives.

Image credit: Flickr/Vujàdé