Ben Myers, vice president for sustainability at BXP (NYSE: BXP), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITworks: 2022 Conference held on Sept. 12-13 in La Quinta, California.
Myers discussed some of the ways BXP evaluates new technologies and techniques. He noted that the REIT starts by establishing its goals and then convenes “the right people to look at the right technologies; we really look for what’s going to move the needle toward our project-specific goals.”
Myers also said that companies need to think carefully about physical climate risk, which involves modeling different climate scenarios and extreme weather condition models and thinking how a building will perform long term.
In addition, he said companies should make sure they are modeling against energy codes and performance standards and anticipating what a transition to a low carbon economy is going to mean to stakeholders.
Turning to the value of building certifications, Myers said they remain “extremely important,” adding that they “streamline the conversation between BXP and our stakeholders. It’s a way to demonstrate we’ve integrated ESG into the asset level.”
Going forward, building certifications will play an increasingly important role given the move toward net zero emissions.