Daren Moss, SVP Operations & Sustainability Brixmor Property Group
Daren Moss, Senior Vice President of Operations and Sustainability at Brixmor Property Group, shares his thoughts on sustainability and ESG within the real estate sector.
A background in environmental science and interest in the intersection of policy and business ushered Daren into an ESG corporate leadership role for Brixmor Property Group. For over a decade, he has worked to help create and shape the policies and programs that define the triple net lease real estate company as a leader in sustainability. Read more about what Daren has to say about building a successful ESG program in the commercial real estate sector.
How do you define sustainability?
Sustainability was traditionally thought of as saving energy and the other environmental related aspects in the built environment; water savings, solar energy, green buildings, etc. Today, “sustainability” has evolved more holistically to “ESG” meaning Environmental, Social and Governance related aspects for companies and projects. For a publicly traded company of our size, ESG initiatives are much more all-encompassing and integrated across all aspects of what we do. Stakeholder engagement is a key to ESG success as it gets to the heart of what we are about as a company, engaging with and supporting our communities, tenants, employees, and business partners. Additionally, focus on areas like cybersecurity, board composition and diversity weren’t typically thought of as “sustainability” but fall under today’s much broader ESG umbrella and are key considerations.
What is your role at Brixmor Property Group?
I lead ESG strategy, implementation and environmental risk for Brixmor, including heading our ESG steering committee. Years ago, we knew that sustainability concerns in commercial real estate were becoming more prevalent and operationally started to advance our agenda. We needed to think strategically about minimizing our impact on the environment and bettering support for our stakeholders. I’ve initiated and grown our program which has been recognized by outside ratings agencies as industry-leading.
Is there a particular sustainability solution that you’ve worked on during your time at Brixmor that you are most proud of?
In terms of environmental sustainability initiatives, it’s our LED program. It’s been one of the biggest drivers of significant change for Brixmor and was our first programmatic sustainability initiative. We started the program in 2014 and as of the end of 2021, we have completed over 90% of our entire portfolio. We own about 400 assets, so that’s no small feat. A lot of companies are hesitant about LED upgrades in the triple net lease environment because the bulk of the costs are passed back to tenants, but we found ways to show there are considerable financial benefits on top of the environmental ones. Not only have we significantly reduced our energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions as a result, but we have been able to lower operating costs for our tenants at the same time. A win for all of us.
What does sustainability look like at your company? How do you compare to other companies in your field?
Our management has been very supportive of ESG and sustainability because it is consistent with our company values. Executive support is a huge factor in successfully implementing an ESG program. That’s one of the main reasons we’ve been able to push the program as far and as quickly as we have. Last year, Calvert rated us one of the top 10 most sustainable Real Estate Investment Trusts (or REITS). That’s a big accomplishment and provided external confirmation of what we believe is an industry-leading ESG program. A lot of other REITS on that list have had fantastic ESG programs for significantly longer than Brixmor. We’ve been able to catch up quickly and become a leader in our sector by staying focused on our vision to be the center of the communities we serve. Ultimately, delivering sustainable returns to shareholders starts with a sustainable business plan focused on reducing negative impacts to the environment, supporting the social wellbeing of stakeholders and operating with the highest level of integrity.
Do you have any advice on what to focus on when pitching ESG initiatives?
Find out what’s important for the company and your executive team. Using our company vision and mission to help drive progress provided a built-in source of support. If you’re asking the CFO for funding for a specific initiative, bring financial returns as you won’t get support based solely on ideology. If the executives don’t buy in, or you can’t show that there will be positive financial impact as well as social or environmental, you’re not destined to be successful. You need to show there are financial and operational benefits which help to drive long term value for your organization. We like to pilot initiatives to prove the value case and then expand at scale once we have confirmed success.
What actions can companies take to address sustainability efforts if they are starting from zero?
Don’t be overwhelmed. Look inside your company and see what metrics are available and what initiatives are material to your business. Find out what your stakeholders believe are important and figure out how to improve on those aspects. Celebrate smaller wins and focus on internal and external disclosure. The lowest hanging fruit is the ESG-related work a company is already performing, but they may not be viewing with an ESG lens. Think about how to effectively communicate what the company is currently doing and the initiatives already underway. Are some of the expense-saving activities in the sustainability realm? Are you cutting energy? If you’re cutting energy, you’re cutting greenhouse gas emissions. You could work from those and build it forward and start to see where you can push further, while ramping up related or new initiatives.
What advice can you give to anyone starting out pursuing a career in sustainability?
You have to remember that working at a company doesn’t mean you can’t promote minimizing impacts to the environment and advancing sustainability. Companies are sometimes perceived as “the negative side of things,” but those of us in these in-house roles are working just as hard to do the right thing all while improving our businesses. We’re all rowing in the same direction to promote sustainability and further drive positive social impact.