Collaboration key to riding the largest industrial revolution yet

We are currently going through an industrial revolution that is probably bigger than any in human history according to CBRE Investment Management’s EMEA head of sustainability Robbie Epsom.

He said this is not just in terms of climate change, environment and sustainability but also with new technologies such as AI tied in. He said that we now have the data to understand much more. “If you really step back from it, this is hugely exciting.”

Epsom added that collaboration is a fundamental necessity for sustainability to succeed.

“Things like the impact community are absolutely fundamental if we’re going to get to where we want to get to, not just within our sector but across all the sectors,” he said. “So the more platforms we have to collaborate the better.”

He also added that it is important to build on what is already happening.

“We’re making changes at the asset level, but also, in parallel, we’ve got to the point where we’re  seeing impact funds launching across the market to address things like carbon removal, to look at climate technology, all these sorts things.

“The fact that we’ve now got the information, the data, the technology, to do it means we can have a tough but exciting conversation about what’s the next step.”

Such change can be disruptive to business, but Epsom said, “the big challenge is doing it in a way that is fair, and doesn’t put an environmental impact onto a different lifecycle stage, doesn’t solve an environmental problem but create a social problem.”

“We know the answers, we know what technology is needed, we know we need to switch off fossil fuels. We know these things, the challenge is to make it work in a way that allows us to make our business thrive.”