From risk to value: making sustainability a boardroom priority

At Antenna House’s Climate Week NYC event, “Making the Case: Winning C-Suite Support for Sustainable Real Estate Strategies,” I had the opportunity to moderate a conversation with industry leaders around one of the biggest questions in commercial real estate today:

How do we shift the perception of sustainability from a “nice to have” to a boardroom priority?

The answer, in my view, is simple – sustainability is profitable.

When we speak to decision-makers, we don’t need to overcomplicate it. The C-suite already understands return on investment and value creation; our job is to frame sustainability in those same terms.

But driving meaningful change also requires listening. I often ask stakeholders what success looks like to them. Meeting people where they are, understanding their motivations and their constraints, is how you build alignment and momentum.

The ROI of Climate Leadership

What has changed in recent years is not just the intensity of climate impacts, but also how we evaluate them. Most critical is recognizing that these are both environmental and financial issues. Take, for example, that a decade ago, carbon taxes were virtually nonexistent. Today, dozens of municipalities have implemented carbon levies, creating a measurable financial return for reducing carbon emissions.

And it’s not just about managing risks or leveraging opportunities. It’s about anticipating what’s next. Buyers, lenders, and tenants will continue to evolve, and expectations for asset performance are already shifting. The faster we understand the link between sustainability and long-term asset value, the stronger our business case becomes.

Making It Part of the Deal

Across our work at BREEAM, we’re already seeing sustainability embedded earlier than ever in the investment process. When it’s treated as standard due diligence at closing, rather than an offhand mention or afterthought, real progress follows. This is one of the fastest-growing parts of our business as large portfolio owners look to identify both where the risks are and where the opportunities lie.

Every dollar saved through energy efficiency, resilience improvements, or carbon reduction enhances asset value. Opportunistic investors can capture that added value immediately, while core, long-term investors benefit from consistent, compounding returns. Either way, sustainability strengthens the bottom line.

Shaping What Comes Next

The ultimate goal is for sustainability to be so deeply integrated into business decisions that it no longer requires a dedicated platform. My hope is that, twenty years from now, Climate Week will represent something different, not a call to action, but a celebration of how far we’ve come. A moment to reflect on how sustainability became embedded in every business decision, across every sector.

Until then, our role is clear: listen, translate, and connect the dots between climate action and financial performance. That’s how we make sustainability a boardroom priority and a shared responsibility for every organization shaping the built environment.