The Future We Build

Alex Edds
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The Future We Build is a podcast about sustainability in real estate when it is shaped by innovation, investment, and real commercial decision making. Hosted by Alex Edds, a corporate sustainability innovator with over 20 years inside the industry, this podcast looks at sustainability through the lens of value creation, resilience, and human outcomes, not just carbon metrics. This is a show for people building, backing, and buying the next generation of solutions for the built environment, offering rare insight into how sustainability, innovation, and capital intersect in practice.

Episodes

  1. The one with.. the $4tn climate coalition transforming real estate

    4H AGO

    The one with.. the $4tn climate coalition transforming real estate

    In this inaugural episode of The Future We Build, Alex sits down with ⁠Vincent Van Bijleveld ⁠from ⁠GREEN ⁠(Global Real Estate Engagement Network) to explore how institutional capital is—or isn't—driving decarbonization in real estate. Vincent offers a rare investor perspective on the tensions between financial returns and climate goals, the limitations of current rating systems, and why real estate might be easier to transform than we think. Key Timestamps [00:03:01] - Why GREEN was founded: where does real estate capital actually come from? [00:05:09] - Is real estate moving fast enough on climate? Comparing to other sectors [00:09:13] - The brown discount dilemma: selling problematic assets doesn't solve the planet's problem [00:14:19] - Decarbonization as the dominant focus (and what else matters) [00:16:13] - Physical climate risk rising up the agenda [00:18:23] - Would investors accept short-term performance drag for long-term resilience? [00:23:03] - GRESB under the microscope: praise, criticism, and what needs to change [00:27:59] - Can regulation move markets? EPBD vs. SFDR [00:32:01] - What investors expect from fund managers in 2026-2027 [00:34:17] - Impact investing in real estate: what does it actually mean? [00:37:05] - What would Vincent like to see change from real estate investors? [00:39:23] - What one thing would Vincent want from government, business, or individuals to make the change we need? [00:40:42] - The long view: disappointed by one-year changes, encouraged by 20-year progress What you'll learn The Investor Lens on Real Estate Transformation Why real estate is "relatively easy" to transform compared to oil & gas or cementThe challenge of fragmentation: thousands of managers vs. concentrated sectorsHow real estate lags behind wind, solar, and automotive in transition speedThe Brown Discount Dilemma Institutional capital's flight from "brown" assets—and where those buildings end upWhy bigger green premiums and brown discounts are essential for market transformationThe moral tension: selling problematic assets doesn't solve the planet's problemRating Systems Under Scrutiny GRESB's critical role in driving industry focus—and its fundamental limitationsWhy five-star ratings don't indicate climate performanceThe "beast has grown": how sustainability metrics became overwhelming and unfocusedWhat needs to change to differentiate true leaders from laggardsRegulation as Market Maker Why Europe's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) may be more effective than SFDRThe difference between top-down capital allocation and bottom-up building standardsThe Reality Check on Impact Investing The gap between board-level sustainability commitments and fund manager incentivesWhy most investors won't prioritize impact if returns divergeDutch pension funds as outliers: participants willing to accept modest return trade-offUniversal ownership theory: climate action as financial risk managementWhat Investors Actually Want Physical climate risk rising rapidly up the agendaTransition risk differences between US and EuropeSingle vs. double materiality: European willingness to invest beyond immediate ROIThe importance of dedicated real estate expertise at pension fund board levelKey resources GREEN GRESB SFDR EPBD The Future We Build is a podcast exploring sustainability, innovation and systemic change in the built environment, hosted by Alex Edds. New episodes released weekly Filmed at Mute Showroom Follow the show on LinkedIn Connect with Alex Email me alex@thefuturewebuildpodcast.com Connect on LinkedIn More about our guest Connect with Vincent on LinkedIn Thanks to ⁠Jason ⁠and Sophia for guiding me through this journey.

    43 min

  2. TRAILER

    The Future We Build Season 1 Trailer

    The built environment accounts for 30-40% of global CO2 emissions. The way we construct, finance, and manage the built environment will determine whether we meet our climate goals—or fall catastrophically short. Welcome to The Future We Build—a podcast for the people creating fundamental change in how we build, invest in, and inhabit our world. This isn't about incremental improvements or polished corporate messaging. These are the hallway conversations that happen after industry conferences end—candid insights from sustainability leaders, PropTech innovators, and real estate futurists who are fundamentally rethinking our approach to the built environment. Season 1 brings you inside conversations with: 🏢 Sustainability heads and former heads from major investment managers including Nuveen, CBRE IM, and Savills IM 🔄 Former sustainability executives now free to speak candidly about what's actually working—and what isn't 🏗️ Leaders pioneering new construction methods, materials, and procurement approaches 🤖 Visionaries exploring AI's role in transforming real estate 📊 Experts tackling the data challenges that underpin regulatory disclosure and capital allocation 🏗️ Industry bodies such as Better Buildings Partnership, UK Green Building Council and UK PropTech Association 🌱 Innovators, Venture Capitalists and emerging PropTech companies Hosted by Alex Edds a sustainability and innovation professional with 20 years across real estate investment management, consulting, corporate innovation, and PropTech. In a world where sustainability performance is now table stakes for raising institutional capital, we explore the practical tensions between financial returns and climate goals, the regulatory complexity reshaping the industry, and the emerging technologies that promise to help us build differently. New episodes coming soon. Subscribe to join the conversation about the future we're building—together. 🎙️ The Future We Build Building a sustainable future, one conversation at a time. Follow us: YouTubeLinkedIn#SustainableRealEstate #GreenBuilding #PropTech #ClimateAction #RealEstate #Sustainability #innovation #NetZero #BuiltEnvironment

    6 min

Trailer

About

The Future We Build is a podcast about sustainability in real estate when it is shaped by innovation, investment, and real commercial decision making. Hosted by Alex Edds, a corporate sustainability innovator with over 20 years inside the industry, this podcast looks at sustainability through the lens of value creation, resilience, and human outcomes, not just carbon metrics. This is a show for people building, backing, and buying the next generation of solutions for the built environment, offering rare insight into how sustainability, innovation, and capital intersect in practice.

Information

  • Creator
    Alex Edds
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Alex Edds
  • Show Website
    The Future We Build