Sustainability, Productivity and Business Growth

(Want more on sustainability and best practices in building management?  Read Better Buildings, a new supplement to Real Estate Forum.)

Four years ago, just as business leaders were starting to look beyond surface aspects of sustainability in the workplace, the global economic downturn forced a realignment of priorities. For many firms, sustainability initiatives centered on energy-cost reductions, while leaders were preoccupied with ways to shore up financial performance by increasing worker productivity and improving client service. Now, it’s starting to sink in that the road to long-term financial success runs through the sustainability initiatives that many companies rejected as too difficult or costly just a few years ago.