51ÂÒÂ×

Anthony Duggan shares his outlook on the growth of ESG.

"In my nearly 25 years of being part of the real estate sector, I've never seen a topic move at such pace and with such impact as ESG.

I've witnessed the rapid and positive change in the narrative from ‘what is ESG?’, through to ‘what are you doing?’, to the present-day questions of ‘how are you achieving your goals?’, and, increasingly, ‘how are you measuring your progress towards these goals?’.

Just a short time ago, the general consensus was that ESG really just translated into net zero, but the topic has mushroomed exponentially to topics that move far beyond carbon into areas such as biodiversity, social impact, and health and wellbeing. In a huge shift from the past, the emerging theories are now centred on how these can be used to redefine what we consider to be ‘value’ by taking a natural/human/social capital approach to measuring success.

The challenge to answering these ‘how’ questions is that the agenda is moving so quickly – as it absolutely must – that targets keep shifting. But sitting and waiting on the sideline for stability and certainty is not an option, so we must commit to ambitious, measurable and fluid targets.

The trick to hitting these moving targets is to build goals that are flexible; ones that stretch the organisation as far as possible but can continue to evolve as the knowledge, science, technology and ambition develops.

Collaboration is key to this approach, across all parts of the industry and beyond. We must work together – as owners, occupiers, advisers, technology providers and so on – to drive solutions that have an impact. But this doesn’t mean losing that individual competitive advantage; it’s about working together to maximise the chances of success collectively, while maintaining your unique approach to how you add value. Both can absolutely work together to mutual benefit.

As a sector, we must always play to our greatest strength: our people, who can collaborate with others to challenge the status quo and find innovative solutions to problems. It would be impossible to move our ESG strategy forward without our people feeling part of something bigger.

At 51ÂÒÂ×, this is our growing network of ESG Ambassadors, who are ESG champions and are embedded in our teams across the globe. They ensure that ESG considerations are rooted in the advice being given to our clients across all service lines. Their passion, enthusiasm and appetite to learn and engage provide me with great hope for our sector and our future, and also serve to hold us accountable as a purpose-driven business.

A critical piece of the success-jigsaw is the sustained development of insight and measurement. This is key to finding and driving solutions, and we are very aware that there remains a big knowledge and data gap in real estate ESG that needs to be augmented.

The critical message that I believe the leadership teams at all real estate advisers should remember is that it is our role to facilitate greater collaboration among all our clients, to continue to challenge the status quo and to add insight, knowledge and expertise that advances the debate. It’s the only way that the whole property industry will continue to evolve our ‘how’ and hit the moving ESG targets that we must set ourselves."

Read more about 51ÂÒÂ×’s journey to ESG