Sustainability Street: CRE Finance’s New Paradigm

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in. For this episode, my guest is CRE Finance Council Managing Director Sairah Burki, who heads Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability for the organization.

Burki and I discuss how CREFC’s Sustainability Initiative is helping members make sense of evolving ESG-related imperatives and opportunities through education, advocacy and transparency.

“As a reputational issue, you want to be seen as sort of a forward-thinking green type of institution, and, honestly, a lot of it is very practical,” Burki said. “CRE lenders, investors have been focused on sustainability even before ESG.”

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

• A personal and corporate journey (1:28)
• CREF’s Sustainability Initiative (7:00)
• The challenge of insurance (11:00)
• Regulatory uncertainty (14:45)
• ESG under fire (22:18)
• The U.S. leaps forward (23:30)

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