Sustainability Street: 2025 Global Outlook

Commercial Property Executive

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in. Happy New Year!

On the verge of a new year and a new presidential administration, I interviewed Elizabeth Beardsley, senior policy counsel, for the U.S. Green Building Council, about the state of climate action in the United States and globally. Beardsley had just returned from COP 29, the annual United Nations climate conference, and she generously shared what she heard and saw at the event, where more than 200 countries were represented.

The COP is a pretty impactful event. It was at COP 15 that the Paris Agreement was formed, and each year the "Conference of the Parties" meet to track progress on those goals and to establish new agreements and targets.

According to Beardsley, "the U.S. was there with the message that we've gone way beyond the commitments and promises phase. We're doing this and there's a lot of momentum. So, the intent from all parties is really to keep that momentum up."

Here are some of the topics Beardsley and I covered:

• COP explained (1:32)
• Moderate optimism and a bigger finance commitment (2:56)
• At last, rules for carbon credit trading (5:03)
• Building-specific initiatives (7:10)
• U.S. sustainability post-Biden (9:52)
• The regulatory outlook (13:38)
• AI as solution and stressor (16:50)
• Beardsley's own near-term outlook

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