
As one who is passionate about facility management and the environment. I am lowkey excited to see the developing conversations and increased focus on sustainable facility management globally. Even as momentum, legislation and advocacy increases, it is still lost on so many companies how to jumpstart their sustainable initiatives.
We observe the discussions, the articles and various discourse in the media about climate change and for the most part it appears that many local organizations in the various industries are unaware of how their daily building operations directly impact the environment.
How will this global sustainability agenda be scaled and driven in our local environment ? It must be prioritized and become a core strategy of every organization and facility managers are positioned to bring awareness and to drive these objectives. They must now become the main characters on this stage. So I am here to lend my voice or words to the conversation as I believe with greater awareness comes great responsibility.
Here are some facts to help build awareness. The built environment:
contributes to almost 40% of natural resources consumed
Produces 40% of waste and greenhouse gases
Use approximately 45% of generated energy to produce power and heat
Having a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not the same as having a sustainability agenda or policy. Having a designated recycle disposal container is not the same as having a sustainability agenda or policy. However, both are great initiatives and impact society (and the environment) in very meaningful ways.
“The first step towards change is awareness. The second step is acceptance”
-Nathaniel Brandon.

Out of curiosity I scoured through at least 20 job descriptions for positions in Facility Management and Property Management in Jamaica, just to get an idea if and how our local organizations are positioning to address Environmental, Social and Governance issues. The positions were available in several industries including, manufacturing, accommodation, healthcare, food services, housing, commercial real estate, BPO’s, and a few others. Of the 20+ job descriptions only one outlined the requirement to address sustainability. And it stated:
Analyze utilities’ data and proactively implement energy and cost saving strategies.
Proactively support the company's culture of environmental responsibility
It was pleasing to see this because the company understood the need to prioritize these objectives and to include them as key roles of the facility manager. You may ask, “what about the other nineteen?” I believe organizations are indeed becoming more aware of environment, social, governance (ESG) issues but they really do not understand the full impact and how to begin implementing sustainable practices. For others, it is just not outlined in job descriptions but FMs are constantly being asked to develop strategies to lower energy costs, water consumption and drive efficiencies amongst other things. However, as mentioned before, this needs to become a part of an organization's core strategy and not just an issue discussed at board meetings without a documented policy or strategy.
The observations highlight the need for increased education, awareness campaigns, advocacy and collaborations to help organizations and facility managers get started on their sustainable facility management initiatives and policies.
Experienced facility managers must now step forward to help drive this agenda. I am also curious about the actions being taken in other Caribbean Islands and organizations towards sustainable facility management. Let’s continue collaborating as we play our roles in this evolving FM industry.
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