Landlords and developers are gunning for green building certifications to heed the call for accountability of carbon emissions in logistics facilities — which, including transportation, are responsible for 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“They don't have an excuse not to go for green certifications because there's a lot of pressure from the markets and they have to look at the valuation of their future buildings at the end of the day,” says Elke Kornalijnslijper, Head of Energy and Sustainability Services, Southeast Asia, JLL.

Occupiers too have become increasingly concerned about sustainability in their facilities due to its implications on the war for talent, with 70% of employees preferring to work for a sustainability leader, according to a JLL survey.

But while green certifications offer benchmarks of what can be achieved in terms of sustainability, Kornalijnslijper believes relying on it alone is not sufficient in the pursuit of net zero in logistics.

Listen to Kornalijnslijper and Michael Ignatiadis, Head of Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions, Asia Pacific, JLL, in The Future of Logistics podcast where they deep dive into the complexities beyond sustainability certifications, how landlords and developers report carbon emissions, and what type of science-based targets to set for sustainability.

Companies are paying greater attention to choices made during the design and construction stage of warehouses, as embodied carbon — the energy and emissions from materials and construction — moves into focus.

Opting for low-carbon concrete, for instance, reduces 25,000 metric tons of carbon, according to Rex Macaskill, Group CEO of leading beverage company POKKA, which recently broke ground on a five-story facility in Singapore housing its regional headquarters, research and development (R&D) lab, and distribution center.

“You have to really understand what you need not just for today, but also five to 10 years from now,” says Macaskill.

Listen to Macaskill and Michael Ignatiadis, Head of Supply Chain and Logistics Solutions, Asia Pacific, JLL, in The Future of Logistics podcast as they deep dive into the sustainable features of modern warehouses, and the key considerations for companies planning to build greener, futureproof logistics facilities.

Transporting raw materials to factories, and finished products all the way to the homes of consumers, is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions on the planet. With companies and governments in recent years increasingly committing to curbing emissions, logistics has moved into focus.

Drones and electric trucks have long been floated as viable options, but so far they’ve been limited to small-scale pilot programs.

One of the key barriers has been costs, according to Taras Wankewycz, Founder and CEO of aerial mobility firm H3 Dynamics. “The unit economics must make sense before these solutions can be implemented on a wider scale,” he says.

This is especially true of vehicles that use hydrogen fuel cells. “The biggest cost in hydrogen right now is the shipping cost from point to point,” says Wankewycz. “If you can make it near the point of use, you not only open up the ability to have green hydrogen or zero-emission hydrogen, but also a lower-cost hydrogen source.”

Such efforts to green the last mile not only require investment, but also call for collaboration between organizations, logistics and transportation players, and, in some cases, even governments.

Are these roadblocks the only barriers to achieving a greener last-mile operation?

Tune in to the second episode of JLL’s The Future of Logistics podcast series, where Wankewycz joins Michael Ignatiadis, Head of Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions, Asia Pacific, JLL, to discuss the viability of clean energy alternatives for the last mile, and how real estate can play a role in helping organizations achieve green ambitions.

Companies have been publicly committing to net-zero carbon emissions, but are these targets realistic given what’s been achieved so far in the logistics sector?

Chief among the main factors hindering progress is the “say-do gap” among companies, where their actual investment in ESG lags behind their public commitments to sustainability goals, says Gerry Mattios, Partner at management consulting firm Bain & Company and Director of Bain’s Global Sustainability Innovation Center.

“[Decarbonization] is a balance sheet exercise,” says Mattios. “Very few companies are willing to risk their balance sheets just to pursue decarbonization.”

Having a clear strategy on the decarbonization journey is therefore imperative, with the first step being laying out the company’s goals. “You need to be able to take that ambition and break it down to specific targets for your supply chain,” says Mattios.

But loopholes still exist such as the lack of governance in terms of tracking carbon emissions. So what are the possible solutions to these roadblocks and what else can companies do to expedite the decarbonization of logistics?

Listen to the first episode of The Future of Logistics podcast series, where Michael Ignatiadis, Head of Supply Chain and Logistics Solutions, Asia Pacific, JLL, quizzes Mattios on the complexities of decarbonization in the context of the last mile, warehousing, and sustainability certification.

With more sustainable practices emerging across real estate, regulation is set to play a bigger part in how investment decisions are made and classified.

At a time of even greater focus on Environment Social Governance (ESG) investing, EU taxonomy and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation are new areas for investors to understand and comply with.

JLL’s Ali Ingram, director and sustainability lead in JLL’s European office investment team, and Tom Branczik, Upstream Sustainability Services director at JLL, to discuss the new regulation and its impact on investors in 2021 and beyond.

 In particular:

• What does SFDR mean and what’s the timeline?
• How will EU Taxonomy impact investment platforms?
• How could SFDR and EU Taxonomy shape investment decisions?
• How are investors responding to the new requirements?
• How will new regulation play out at individual asset and property level?
• How is the broader sustainability drive developing across European real estate?

As workplaces adapt to the rise of remote working and changing employee expectations, the skills needed to successfully manage teams in this new environment are evolving.

JLL’s Sue Asprey-Price, Head of UK Corporate Solutions, joins Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and Gya Adeyemi, EMEA Transaction Manager at Facebook, to discuss the skills and qualities that both today’s and tomorrow’s leaders need to refine and how these could these change workplaces for the better.

In particular:

• What does strong leadership look like?
• How are senior colleagues influencing younger employees?
• How has the pandemic changed working styles and employee expectations?
• How has new workplace models like hybrid working are changing leadership styles?
• Is there a danger of labelling skills as male or female?
• What else needs to happen to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces?
• How can tomorrow’s C-suite lead successfully?
• What would our speakers choose to challenge for International Women’s Day 2021?