How real estate giant CBRE is deploying this Microsoft alum as its first chief sustainability officer

As Microsoft’s first environmental strategist from November 2007 to September 2018, Rob Bernard deployed smart building management technology across 125 buildings and 15 million square feet to collect data for emissions estimates and reduction plans. Eventually, some features of that software became part of the company’s product portfolio.

Since February 2023, Bernard has used that corporate insider point of view to shape the climate transition plans for CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm with nearly $34 billion in revenues for the 12 months ended Sept. 30. 

Bernard is the first chief sustainability officer for CBRE, reporting to Andrew Kupiec, group president for CBRE’s Occupier Solutions division, which includes its consulting services. 

Commercial office buildings contribute an estimated 16 percent of annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. CBRE’s short-term quest is to cut per-square-foot greenhouse gas emissions for properties it manages by 55 percent by 2030. Its long-term commitment is to be net zero by 2040. That includes its corporate operations, which span 630 offices, and the 7 billion square feet in property it manages for building owners and occupiers. 

Meeting those pledges will require convincing CBRE’s clients — 57 percent of which have their own net-zero goals — to prioritize differently when they sign leases or management contracts. Under Bernard’s direction, CBRE is adding more services that help building occupiers and owners assess climate risks, manage electricity loads and source renewable energy.

“If we’re going to hit [our] goals, 97 percent of the goal has to be about what we do with our clients,” said Bernard during the latest episode of the Climate Pioneers interview series. “We’ve got to be at the center of the client organization.” 

Core to the business

Bernard’s strategy was informed by interviews with several hundred people within CBRE’s organization aimed at identifying the intersection between emissions reductions and client priorities. 

Tying decarbonization with sales goals helps create tailwinds for CBRE’s climate transition plans, instead of the headwinds that can be created when cutting emissions takes a back seat to meeting revenue projections, Bernard said.

“If we think about what ingredients are necessary in some ways for catalyzing change at scale in a big company, it’s an enthusiastic, willing and supportive executive team, OK?” he said. “At Microsoft, clearly that was the case, and at CBRE it is absolutely the case.”

Look beyond ‘well-intentioned chaos’ 

Since 2019, CBRE has cut emissions across its entire footprint by 18 percent, according to the update offered in its climate transition plan published in December. Emissions per square foot for buildings under management have been reduced by 19 percent over that time period.

Energy use in buildings under management represents 97 percent of CBRE’s downstream emissions — or 1,545.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per $1 million of value, according to the company’s 2023 corporate responsibility report. 

CBRE’s ability to cut emissions 55 percent per square foot by 2030 hinges on CBRE’s ability to get clients thinking about decarbonization more holistically throughout contract negotiations rather than on a project-by-project basis, Bernard said.

“Too many people are supporting well-intentioned chaos in their companies to do a project here, a project here, project here,” he said. “We have got to have strategic blueprints for our industry and our clients. Then the other thing is, we have to got to catalyze the marketplace for renewable energy transactions at massive scale so that it becomes easier for our clients to be able to get renewable energy.” 

To facilitate that mindset, CBRE announced a service in June with Climate X that enables CBRE owners and tenants to review climate risks — such as fires, landslides, storms and coastal flooding — on a location-by-location basis. In October, it acquired the renewables advisory arm of NRG, which specializes in brokering community solar deals and virtual power purchase agreements. 

Those are just two ways CBRE engages with building owners and occupiers to get them thinking about potential emissions reductions. Many customers of NRG’s renewables advisory group were also CBRE clients. “So, we hit the ground running,” Bernard said.

Question the contract

About one-third of CBRE’s tenants expect the properties they occupy to carry a green building certification, according to a CBRE client sentiment survey conducted in August. About half that number indicated a willingness to pay more for that designation, the research found. 

While commercial office vacancies spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, leasing rates are on the rise heading into 2025 as companies call back into the office and seek space for data center and artificial intelligence investments. 

It’s an opportune time for tenants to revisit leases more than 10 years old and request more granular, utility-meter data about energy consumption. Improving efficiency using that information is in the interest of both building occupiers and owners, Bernard said.

From the tenant’s perspective, there’s an opportunity to request changes that support corporate emissions reductions goals and from the owner’s perspective there could be an opportunity to share the cost of making changes, including metering and automation software, lighting upgrades and thermal envelope improvements.

“I think it’s been true historically that there have been table stakes excuses for not engaging more actively,” he said. “We’re trying to put both parties in the room, so we’re addressing that from a business model and organizational model at CBRE to drive a unified view for our clients.”