JLL Announces New Decarbonization Tracking Tech and Services

Real estate giant JLL announced that it was offering decarbonization consulting along with software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology called Carbon Pathfinder, intended to provide “investment planning insights to support carbon reduction goals,” according to a company press release.

“Carbon Pathfinder is a dynamic decarbonization planning technology that forecasts climate transition risk for investors and occupiers to plan capital projects and evaluate return on investment,” the release said. “Producing insights at both the portfolio and individual building level, Carbon Pathfinder allows companies to assess performance against science-based targets, create actionable decarbonization plans and use data to inform prioritization and capital allocation decisions.”

And email for the company said this would be the first time that business leaders and real estate decision makers could have access to portfolio sustainability data down to the individual building level. They would have a comprehensive view of carbon footprints, “with the ability to create actionable decarbonization roadmaps and maximize sustainability investments while minimizing risk.”

The software was built in-house by JLL Technologies. The company announced recently that Yao Morin would be its first chief technology officer. One of the important tasks Morin said her group faced at the time was to further ramp up an SaaS offering that was already growing at a 35% to 40% annual basis and projected to reach $500 million in sales by 2027, the timing of which would rule out this product.

“Sustainability is no longer an option, it’s a necessity and in many cases a government mandate,” the release quoted Sharad Rastogi, CEO of JLLT’s Work Dynamics Technology group, as saying. “Making investment decisions is a complex process and calculation. Carbon Pathfinder allows decision-makers to explore various decarbonization scenarios and determine which ones will maximize their sustainability investment—while minimizing their risk. When combined with our consulting, valuation, and leasing advisory services, it’s a unique and powerful solution.”

Decarbonization has become a major line of business in CRE. Proptech firm BrainBox AI, which focuses on decreasing energy costs and reducing carbon footprints in commercial properties, recently pulled in an additional $20 million.

Logical Buildings announced a $110 million raise in April to back an energy-as-a-service initiative.

Several factors have driven the importance of environmental concerns, one aspect of ESG: demands from investors who are concerned about losing value long-term, regulations current and future, and the desire to minimize operating costs.