The Power of “Business-Proptech collaboration” for decarbonisation of the real estate industry

Despite its positive societal impact—creating jobs and supporting the infrastructure we live and work in—the entire construction and real estate value chain is responsible for 40% of carbon emissions globally, according to United Nations figures. While companies and investors in real estate face challenges on the path to carbon neutrality, there are also new opportunities and avenues to contribute to ongoing decarbonisation efforts.

Expo Real highlighted the transformative trends and challenges facing the real estate industry, underscoring the critical importance of new, innovative collaborations. Partnerships between businesses and governments are key to fostering global ecosystems, advancing progressive policies, and accelerating the adoption of breakthrough technologies. At the same time, cooperation between established industry leaders and proptech startups is essential to drive the sector's evolution. Achieving the ambitious Net Zero targets outlined in the European Green Deal—aiming for Europe to become the first continent to balance its carbon emissions by 2050—requires collective action from all stakeholders. This goal was solidified by the European Climate Law in 2021, making it legally binding. Expo Real emphasized that, as digital transformation reshapes every industry, the real estate sector must fully integrate proptech innovations. These collaborations are no longer optional—they are crucial to ensuring the industry's sustainability and competitiveness in a rapidly changing world.

Carbon is prevalent in both the operational emissions generated during the daily use and maintenance of buildings, and the embodied carbon emitted during the construction phase and at the end of a building's life. The complexity of the value chain highlights the endemic challenges of carbon neutrality. For instance, the sourcing and manufacturing of materials like iron, steel, and cement account for 15% of emissions alone. Thus, every construction or renovation project must be carefully planned to address current and future challenges.

Expo Real brought together numerous startups that collect and analyse vast amounts of data, providing detailed insights into the carbon emissions performance of real estate assets. For effective decarbonisation, it is crucial to have a clear overview of energy performance in order to implement the most suitable solutions. Among the notable proptechs we discovered the Dutch companies Hello Energy and Perfect Place. Hello Energy's SaaS software enables sustainability and portfolio managers to collect data that minimizes their buildings' environmental impact, track improvements, and engage a community around energy and carbon savings. Meanwhile, Perfect Place employs artificial intelligence to help investors find successful locations, upholding the age-old real estate adage: "location, location, location." Another standout was the Swiss company Optiml™, which offers an AI-based solution for decarbonising existing real estate. It won an Impact Award at Expo Real after previously securing a PropTech Innovation Challenge at the C Change Summit in Barcelona. Its "Asset Strategy Designer" tool enables smarter, greener investment strategies for real estate assets.

In the current landscape, many proptechs are focused on sustainable solutions, such as smart and eco-friendly buildings, or energy management tools. By collaborating with these companies, major real estate players can not only accelerate their alignment with European taxonomy but also meet society's growing expectations for social responsibility.

At PULSE, collaborating with proptechs is a well-established and encouraged strategy within the CFE Group, our parent company. “This collaborative initiative was launched two years ago, recognizing that the real estate sector has been slow to adopt innovation. This is partly because builders and developers do not allow innovative startups to integrate early in the project phases. We recognized it was our responsibility to change this and to adapt our processes to welcome new players at every stage of project construction," explains Sandra Gottcheiner, Director of Development and Innovation at BPI Real Estate, the CFE Group’s real estate development branch. "We opened our doors to startups, exploring diverse areas of intervention: material selection, building management, energy optimisation, performance tools, and more. It is our role to listen to those with great ideas. Furthermore, achieving low carbon status inevitably requires innovation”, concludes Sandra.

For instance, in the Wood Hub project, the new headquarters of the CFE Group, we collaborated with Natura Mater, a sustainable materials supplier. Together, we replaced traditional façade insulation with wood fiber. For material reuse, we partnered with the social cooperative RETRIVAL. To manage comfort and building intelligence, we worked with VMANAGER and Trigrr. For shared parking management, we teamed up with Izix, and for green site management, we collaborated with Seegma, which provides the Greenbox—an energy monitoring device that helps reduce unnecessary CO2 emissions, as well as water and electricity consumption.

The CFE Group has gained valuable expertise through its collaboration with various proptechs. This experience will undoubtedly benefit companies engaging with PULSE. Together, we can turn challenges into sustainable opportunities and towards Net Zero goals!