The Shift from ESG Reporting to Operational Efficiency

Commercial real estate is undergoing a major shift. ESG used to be something businesses reported once a year through spreadsheets and static dashboards. Today the pressure has changed. Investors, lenders and occupiers want buildings that can prove efficient operation every week, not once every 12 months. This has pushed the market away from broad ESG statements and toward continuous energy intelligence that shows real operational performance.

Whether you are an ESG or Asset Manager, usage reporting is going beyond your sustainability reporting. You can use the same insights to deliver measurable cost savings, efficiency and value for you and your occupiers.

Across the Etainabl platform, we are seeing a rapid increase in the way buildings collect, clean and use their energy data. Over the last year, our data shows sites have added more submeters, creating new granular monitoring points across portfolios. This growth shows a clear intention from CRE owners to eliminate blind spots, expose wastage faster and make data driven decisions that cut costs.

Why Submeter Growth Matters

More submetering means more visibility. With greater monitoring coverage, facilities teams and asset managers can finally understand which floors, plant items or occupiers are driving unnecessary consumption.

This shift has three major consequences:

• Faster identification of waste. Granular energy points reveal inefficiencies long before a quarterly bill would surface them.

• Clear evidence of financial impact. Teams can now show how a single intervention created a measurable reduction in consumption and cost.

• A move toward portfolio wide optimisation. As buildings collect more data, owners can prioritise investment decisions and validate savings in a defensible way.

The message is simple. Annual reports are no longer enough. The market wants live operational insight that changes asset behaviour every day.

What CRE Owners Now Expect

Asset owners are shifting from compliance to optimisation. The most common requirements we see are:

• Real time alerts. Instant notifications when consumption spikes or equipment behaves outside normal ranges

• Anomaly detection. Data to conduct anomaly analysis and patterns which has been previously eligible in traditional energy billing

• Automated meter & ESG Reporting. Senior leaders are recognising that Sustainability Managers need to be making a impact, not just filling in spreadsheets. Automating the ESG reporting allows them to focus on interventions driving down usage and cost.

What Occupiers Expect

Occupiers are under pressure to report their own carbon and energy performance, this has previously been tough when an office building has one meter, how can they produce their own reports? As a result, they want landlords to provide better visibility into their consumption. This is driving demand for:

• Multi-occupancy insights. Transparent usage data through sub metering and automated reporting for their tenants

• Aligned reporting for sustainability teams. Teams are requiring reliable data that fit into their existing frameworks with automated data transfer and easy to audit numbers that avoid the usual spreadsheet reconciliation.

• Building wide efficiency strategies. Occupiers are demanding better evidence that their building is being operated efficiently. The expectation on the landlord is to target waste and optimise energy performance and how their costs are being used on efficient initiatives.

How Energy Performance Impacts Asset Value

The link between energy performance and asset value is becoming extremely clear. The ‘green premium’ is not just for your reporting requirements but also proves lower operating costs and you have a efficient, modern and low carbon building.

• The IEA in their June 2025 Asset Value report shows a 14.7% premium for efficient commercial buildings in selected markets in the United Kingdom

• GESB in a July 2025 article shows a study which suggests 32% of European investors are willing to pay a premium for ESG-aligned buildings. Half of those will pay an excess of 20%

• Knight Frank found in their research an 8-18% sales price premium for green-rated buildings relative to unrated buildings in the London, Sydney and Melbourne markets.

Investors don’t justify these increased costs on a green certificate alone. They will be making decisions on real-time operational data, which is made possible by sub-metering and energy intelligence platforms. By deploying your own sub-metering and data platform. You can mitigate regulatory and operational risk but also enhance your assets market positioning and value.

Where Etainabl Fits

Etainabl sits in the centre of this market shift. The platform connects directly to meters, cleans the incoming data and produces ready to use insights that support both optimisation and compliance.

• Automatically extract data from bills, systems and sensors. Eliminate manual input and automate your workflows.

• Automated checks to identify gaps and errors in your billing, powered by Etainabl’s AI.

• Analyse real-time dashboards and monitor your energy, emissions, and waste reporting to develop impactful optimisation interventions.