Cushman & Wakefield has appointed its first chief sustainability officer to oversee the brokerage's environmental efforts and advise clients on their own green initiatives as the importance of climate risks grows across the globe.
The firm said it tapped Jessica Francisco to begin in the role immediately. Francisco joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2022 as global head of sustainability for its occupier services business. In her new role, she will develop and implement firm-wide sustainability strategies and goals, integrate sustainability into the company’s core services and establish metrics to ensure results as she works with business partners across the firm, Cushman & Wakefield said.
Typically, sustainability executives focus on climate risks and the carbon footprints of their company and clients, as well as waste levels, energy and water use. Cushman & Wakefield works with clients on their environmental, social and governance, or ESG, compliance programs, carbon accounting and climate risk scenarios, as well as auditing energy, water and waste to create efficiency plans.
With Francisco's appointment, Cushman & Wakefield joins rival brokerages CBRE and JLL in having C-level executives directing their sustainability programs. In February 2023, CBRE hired Robert Bernard, who had been serving as Microsoft's chief environmental strategist, as its chief sustainability officer. In October 2022, JLL tapped Erin Meezan, former top sustainability officer at Interface, as its chief sustainability officer. Meezan replaced the retiring Richard Batten, who served as JLL's chief sustainability officer for more than five years.
Sustainability is becoming more important to the commercial real estate industry, especially as environmental risks grow and insurers raise rates based on major climate events, according to the 2024 global and regional Emerging Trends in Real Estate reports from Urban Land Institute and consulting firm PwC. For some building owners, "insurance costs have more than doubled over the last two to four years," according to a commercial property professional quoted in the Emerging Trends United States and Canada report.
"Regardless of insurance costs, property owners and managers have more urgent reasons to address climate risks: growing government regulation and ESG mandates. The city governments of most leading CRE markets have enacted climate-related regulations in recent years including such mandates as regular energy audits, energy benchmarking disclosure, and requiring commercial buildings to implement energy-saving measures," ULI and PwC said in their report.
'Business Imperative'
Moreover, there's a growing "desire from employees to work somewhere 'impactful' is reinforcing their commitment to sustainability, particularly in Europe, but also" in the United States and the Asia-Pacific region, ULI and PwC said in the 2024 Emerging Trends in Real Estate Global Outlook. "Companies set overall ESG goals, and for many of them their buildings must demonstrate this commitment as well, serving as a physical embodiment of the goal of cutting carbon emissions and reducing energy use."
Chief Investment and Strategy Officer Nathaniel Robinson said in a statement that "sustainability is a business imperative for the commercial real estate industry." Francisco reports to Robinson.
Robinson added that “this new CSO role reflects the firm’s commitment to advancing sustainability not only for our own operations but also through the strategic advice and services we provide our clients.”
For Cushman, the time was right to appoint a chief sustainability officer because the firm "has a responsibility to help create a more sustainable future for our firm and our clients,” Francisco said in a statement. “Our clients depend on us to help them achieve their ambitious environmental, social and governance goals that will positively impact future generations.”
Francisco has more than 20 years of experience in sustainability. Before she joined Cushman & Wakefield, she served as head of sustainability at Arcadis U.S., where she led the design firm and consultancy's regional sustainability program and environmental, health, safety and sustainability advisory practice. At Pacific Gas & Electric, she led multidisciplinary teams in the design and execution of clean energy programs.