Sustainability Street: From ESG to ROI

Welcome back to Sustainability Street. CPE’s podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.While corporate America de-emphasizes "ESG," sustainability's role as a key financial lever in commercial real estate gets further cemented. My guest for this episode is CPE Senior Associate Editor Anca Gagiuc, our lead climate and energy reporter. We discuss her findings on the topic from her article "Earth Day: Earth Day 2026: What’s Driving Sustainable CRE Decisions Now." "Sustainability is no longer only about ESG, corporate responsibility or future goals," Gajiuc told me. "It is much more immediate now. It is showing up in NOI, asset value, financing, leasing and operating costs. The way I would build on that is to say that sustainability has moved into its next phase: competitiveness."Here are some highlights from our conversation:(02:06) Sustainability enters its next phase(04:32) Green premium and brown discount(06:01) Impacts on liquidity and exit values(08:23) The role of building performance standards (09:55) Power changes the meaning of location(13:30) The power divide(17:30) Future-proofing amid rapid change(19:28) Where health and wellness rank(23:16) For further information