Let's make it clear.  I'm as green as the next guy. Love the concept of sustainability . . .  just as long as you cut down enough trees so I can continue to spend my weekends building furniture. (It's my therapy.)

I'm writing this at a computer in Cannes, on the closing day of MIPIM, where much was made of sustainability . . . a topic we heard nothing of over the past three years when we were all trying to save our own professional butts and not so much focused on the carbon footprint of our buildings.

Well, in this dubious recovery, green is back, but it still has no real voice. Liz Peace, an old friend and CEO of the British Property Federation, tells me that the green folks got in their own way, and after years of preaching still have no consensus on the dollar value of green nor a standardized way to measure it. That makes it a really hard sell for tenants and would-be investors to price, at a time in the upcycle when pricing comes first. And this is from a respected leader who gets green and advocates for it.

Frankly, at this early stage in our recovery, tenants just won't pony up for it. Asked (at one of the MIPIM sessions) if they would,Graham Bond of Cornerstone Advisors said flatly, "No. Do they want it? Yes. But I'm not sure it carries a real premium these days. "

Fact is, as important a topic as sustainability is--and it is--if it doesn't carry down to the bottom line, if its not treated as an important part of building operating efficiency, advocates have lost their argument. And that's a real shame.