Sunil “Sunny” Misser, CEO of global consulting firm AccountAbility, recently joined Nareit for a video interview to discuss the trends that will shape the landscape of sustainable business in 2019.
Misser highlighted collaboration on climate action as one of the key trends to watch. “Industries are going to have multiple types of collaborative linkages and they’re going to see a big spurt toward climate action,” he said.
Other trends Misser noted include:
- Companies taking a structured approach to addressing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by developing clear strategies and initiatives;
- A shift of industry focus from “output” or “performance” to “outcomes” or “impact”;
- Supply chain intelligence;
- Movement from a linear to a circular economy;
- Rapid urbanization; and
- Understanding the implications that transportation automation will have for the supply chain, operations, distribution, and employment of organizations.
As for the importance of ESG disclosure, Misser noted that the real estate sector contributes 13.6 percent to overall U.S. GDP and REITs contribute over 2.3 million full time jobs in the U.S. He pointed to a recent statistic showing that 74 percent of investors will examine the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks of REITs and their holdings before they choose to invest in them—“I think that’s reason enough.”