SAN DIEGO—Most of the leading voluntary sustainability reporting standards were actually started internationally and have gained popularity in the US in recent years, Measurabl's COO Dana Arnold tells GlobeSt.com. Arnold—who previously ran two departments: a 20-person data-services team and a four-person customer-success team at Goby, a tech-enabled real estate consultancy—recently joined the firm.

In addition to Arnold, Arielle Slaby has joined the firm as VP of customer success. Slaby comes from CBRE, where she led a three-person team responsible for the firm's energy, sustainability and bill-payment platform, Utility Insight.

Measurabl has built a proprietary software to empower companies to automatically collect utility data, report on sustainability performance and identify energy and water efficiency opportunities while simplifying reports to global sustainability benchmarks like the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark and Carbon Disclosure Project. The company currently has more than 4 billion square feet covering more than 20,000 properties in its database. Forty percent of the world's top 30 investment managers use Measurabl, and the firm has had 24 consecutive months of revenue growth.

We spoke with Arnold about her new role and how CRE sustainability is viewed around the world.

GlobeSt.com: What are you looking forward to accomplishing in your new role with Measurabl?

Arnold: I am confident in accomplishing sustainable growth and expansion globally. We are working on getting boots on the ground in the Europe market over the coming months to assist with our ever-growing client list of 225 million square meters (730 million square feet), more than 3,000 properties and in 62 countries outside the US. CBRE, Heitman, Intuit and VMWare, to name a few, all have already partnered with Measurabl as their global sustainability software solution. A representative from CBRE said, “Measurabl makes the survey (GRESB) much more user friendly and has dramatically cut down our time investment, improved the quality of our response and significantly lowered our cost of reporting compliance.” In addition to supporting international growth, I am thrilled to be managing business operations (human resources, legal, accounting, etc.), and supporting Measurabl's efforts to grow, scale and thrive.

GlobeSt.com: How is sustainability in commercial real estate viewed in overseas markets as compared to the US?

Arnold: Most of the leading voluntary sustainability reporting standards were started internationally and have gained popularity in the US in recent years. For example, the CDP was started in the UK, the GRESB was started in the Netherlands and the National Australian Built Environment Rating System in Australia. Voluntary sustainability reporting has been standard practice in global markets for years; in Europe, 74% of the market is reporting sustainability data in their GRESB annual survey, compared to 55% in the North American market. I have been assisting the CRE market in North America with GRESB reporting for more than four years now, and the interest, execution and results have been growing rapidly to catch up to the global markets. The CRE market is very competitive, and sustainability is an element where there is space for improvement in transparency and insight to drive investment decisions, whether you are buying/selling, developing or managing assets.

GlobeSt.com: How receptive are other international markets to sustainability-measurement tools like those your company offers?

Arnold: International markets are very receptive to tools like Measurabl. Many global organizations struggle to operate and report consistently across regional entities, often siloed, across the globe. Sustainability reporting, more than ever, is becoming standard practice globally that demands consistency and transparency along with third-party verification of source data. As in any industry, resources are tight and expectations are always increasing for insights into financial and operational performance to drive strategic decision making. Because of this, global markets are demanding a solution to streamline data capture, analysis and reporting. Measurabl's growth, especially internationally, over the past 24 months is only proof that this is growing demand for our solution for the market globally.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about your move to Measurabl?

Arnold: As competition grows in the market of sustainability solutions for commercial real estate, Measurabl is the clear leader. I have had the opportunity to vet many sustainability solutions in this space, and my decision to join Measurabl was a very simple one. Measurabl is currently and will continue to win in this space. Measurabl has shown impressive growth over the last 24 months, surpassing global footprints of legacy solutions in the market. I have been in the sustainability and built-environment industry my entire career, and Measurabl provides a clear, simple and easy to use tool for reporting, where others in the market fall short.

We spoke with Arnold about her new role and how CRE sustainability is viewed around the world.

GlobeSt.com: What are you looking forward to accomplishing in your new role with Measurabl?

GlobeSt.com: How is sustainability in commercial real estate viewed in overseas markets as compared to the US?

GlobeSt.com: How receptive are other international markets to sustainability-measurement tools like those your company offers?

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about your move to Measurabl?

Instant Insights /

How Overseas CRE Markets View Sustainability

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