Despite the growing praise for sustainable design, property players have been slow to embrace green building practices. This is the prevailing sentiment of CB Richard Ellis' "Green Downtown Office Markets: A Future Reality," a report outlining the progress of the green building movement.

The report, issued during the Los Angeles-based firm's recent world conference, looks at the obstacles preventing a broad-based acceptance of sustainable design in office construction. The initial outlay compared to long-term benefits was noted as one of the leading hurdles. A lack of data on development, construction costs and time needed to recoup costs–making education the most crucial tool for the movement—was also cited as a problem.

However, the overall sense of hesitation is not preventing some progress, asserts Sally R. Wilson, global director of environmental strategy for CBRE. "I wouldn't say that hesitation is tapering off," she says, "but the level of interest is picking up." With that interest comes the need for education, which partly prompted the creation of the report, Wilson notes. "Given that we manage 1.7 billion sf globally, we have a real opportunity to help our clients understand how they can make changes in operations in their own facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and be more energy efficient."