a conversation with the woman who launched TWO inaugural ESG reports at once
qb. cofounder Noemí sat down with Keara Fanning, Senior Director of Sustainability at Link Logistics Real Estate, to talk about all things ESG in the real estate industry. Here’s what she had to say.
published 3.24.22
N: Last year you launched two sister reports – inaugural ESG reports for ShopCore and Link Logistics – raised a toddler and made a baby. You’re clearly a powerhouse. In your opinion, how is the real estate industry as a whole doing on tackling ESG issues?
K: We all could be doing better, not just the real estate industry. But the acceleration that we’ve seen in the real estate world in the last two years has been exceptional compared to the 10 years prior, and we need to move holistically in the direction that betters not only the environment, but people too. COVID highlighted that people must be a core part of the equation, and they are. We’ve seen so many companies come forward and make not only commitments but actual progress. I think we’ll continue to see it.
N: So where do you think the biggest opportunities are in this work?
K: As a practitioner and someone who leads ESG in an organization, reporting is really important to retroactively look back at what you’ve been doing but also use it as a tool to forward-look at what you should be doing. We always forget about the things we’ve accomplished and the things we want to accomplish in a holistic way, so being able to report them is a really great tool for us to use—and not only for ourselves. It really helps to serve as a vehicle for our internal and external stakeholders on what we are actually doing. What’s our vision here? What progress have we made to date and where do we need to go?
And I’m a people person. I’m passionate about making people happy and healthy, and having something measurable to show them is really profound. This is the next generation of environmental sustainability
N: Yes, you are such a people person! Based on your experience with this work, what advice would you give to companies that are just starting to develop ESG practices as demand explodes in this area?
K: For first-time reporting, I can’t underscore enough the importance of aligning to a market-accepted framework, and one that’s material to your business whether that's GRI or SASB. It is extremely important not just for someone who’s reviewing your report to know what you’re disclosing and how you calculated that, but also for yourself. You need to have an appropriate baseline and usually a first report serves as a great baseline for your program. That would be my number one recommendation.
Also, be transparent and authentic about who you are as an organization! It is not going to help you in the long run to overstate things that aren’t true. Everybody is on a journey, and you should just be very authentic about where you are on that journey.
N: One hundred percent agree. And as a team/company that is following that guidance, what would you say you’re most proud of or excited about that you’d want everyone to know about?
K: Honestly just Link in general. I’m really, really proud of Link as an organization, not only from an ESG perspective but also the culture that’s been created here. It’s full of intentional people who are driven to do something different and have a positive impact. Not only on the environment, for example, but also on the people that they work with every day. It’s really unique to find people who are really connected to that mission and also at the same time are just extremely humble and kind people.
N: Alright last question: How did you become interested in this intersection of sustainability and real estate?
K: Human health and wellness has always been something that's really important to me, specifically as it relates to real estate. This is something that I became really interested in when I was doing a lot of office work. Employers really understood that the physical places that people occupy every single day are going to influence not only their health but also their productivity. The air quality in the space, for example, the materials they put in, whether they’re off-gassing—these things actually really impact people’s mental ability. That has a direct relationship with how productive they are and how their performance is, and therefore how you’re going to perform as a company.
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