WASHINGTON, DC—After years of trying to receive a top rating from the non-profit entity CDP, Juniper Networks executives asked themselves in frustration 'What does it take? What is Cisco Systems doing [a chief competitor of Juniper that did received the coveted highest score] that we are not?'

The answer, it was eventually determined, according to a presenter from the company at CoreNet Global's North American Summit, held this week in Washington, DC, was rather simple.

Getting that high score was not just about energy efficiency, proper resource management and rigorous internal controls. It was also about telling the right story about how those efforts related to Juniper's overall mission.

"People don't buy from you because of what you do," she told the audience. "They buy because of why you do it."

This probably was not the main takeaway the presenter wanted for the audience but for this attendee it made an impact. As the Juniper representative went through the detailed process of how the company achieved sustainability excellence in its operations, especially among its real estate operations, some overarching points were quite clear:

• True end-to-end corporate sustainability is a complex and never-ending endeavor.
• It requires almost as much discipline and formal process as meeting a government requirement such as a building code, or financial reporting standard.
• It takes an immense amount of knowledge.
• It is not for the faint of heart or, perhaps more accurately, for companies that are only in it for accolades or PR value.

And finally:

• If implemented as proponents of sustainability practices believe it should be, it can lead to several unexpected benefits—an effect similar to the off-label benefits of some prescription drugs that treat problems for which the medication was not prescribed.

Such talk could well be considered anathema in commercial real estate circles, which is one of the few industrial sectors that recognizes that sustainability and energy-efficiency actually can reduce a bottom line. Why would a company need other reasons to introduce energy-efficiency and sustainability into the corporate environment, the thinking goes? The savings and long-term benefits are reason enough.

Certainly the embrace of sustainability by the sector was on display throughout the three-day conference. While the numerous sessions dealt with a variety of topics ranging from IT to workplace management policies to site selection to how to succeed in emerging markets, the theme of sustainability was quite often running quietly in the background.

Its value, though, reaches far beyond its immediate goals as Juniper eventually learned.

Other benefits a rigorous sustainability program can offer a company include:

1. It can help answer questions from investors faster and more accurately. Investors, in general, are asking more probing questions about topics outside of profits and activist investors are following the lead of such giants as Carl Ichan as they seek changes in companies. This is becoming true in real estate as well. The processes in place for CDP, for example, are so rigorous that a company can answer just about any detailed inquiry on performance or operations with a few mouse clicks.

2. It facilitates tenant-landlord relationships. Usually conversations between these two groups are about costs or compliance. Working on common sustainable goals is less stressful and enhances the dialogue.

3. Ditto partner relationships.

4. It increases transparency in the supply chain. Yes, even buildings have them and increasingly this is becoming an area of interest to regulators and shareholders. Dodd-Frank introduced, much to manufacturers' chagrin, rules requiring them to disclose if minerals in their supply chains are financing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. The first disclosures were due this year—and manufacturers found it very difficult to comply. There is nothing comparable, yet, for commercial real estate but as international efforts in this area intensify it is safe to guess there will be eventually.

5. It is reputation building (or as Juniper might say, it tells a story about your company). Greenwashing is out, but serious ranking of companies devoted to sustainable practices is growing.

6. It establishes and reinforces internal corporate discipline for other enterprise-wise programs in risk management, such as Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) or process improvement such as Six Sigma.