LOS ANGELES-CBRE Group Inc. has launched the Real Green Research Challenge, a four-year, $1-million commitment to fund leading-edge sustainability research and innovation relating to commercial real estate. CBRE is accepting submissions for research proposals, with the goal of developing solutions to the industry’s critical environmental challenges.
Over the next four years, CBRE will award up to $1 million to fund independent academic research into sustainable real estate practices. Selected applicants will receive up to $250,000 for basic research and implementation, with initial funding in February 2013. In addition to monetary funds, RGRC-funded projects will have access to CBRE’s global market data and resources, which can help them to commercialize their ideas.
“We’re seen growing market awareness of commercial buildings’ impact on the environment,” said Bob Sulentic, president of CBRE, in a prepared statement. “This has inspired new thinking and innovation in sustainability research. However, people with good ideas often lack financial support and access to real-time market data and insight into building construction, occupancy and management that only a global firm like CBRE can provide. Our RGRC program will help to unleash innovation by connecting ideas with funding and with CBRE’s unparalleled information and people resources.”
CBRE has assembled an authoritative panel of internal and external global experts and thought leaders to evaluate research proposals. The judges include members of academia, non-governmental organizations and industry. The types of research the RGRC program will fund include productivity studies, large-scale predictive modeling, energy-efficiency technologies, data-management programs, diagnostic tools and market-wide availability.
“We are pleased to announce the creation of the industry’s first dedicated funding mechanism to support substantive research for commercial real estate,” said Dave Pogue, CBRE’s global director of sustainability and head of the global sustainability taskforce that developed the RGRC. “Through this collaborative approach, we hope to create a meaningful impact in sustainable commercial real estate practices.”
Dealing with the environmental impact of development is a constant challenge for commercial real estate industry. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, there has been much talk from the business community about reforming the 40-plus-year old California legislation CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, which has been shown to delay the progression of certain commercial real estate development projects. But not everyone is in agreement about just how the law should be reformed or what the purpose of reform should be.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
