Is sustainability being cancelled?

I was recently looking at investing in a new pair of skis. The first pair I looked at were being promoted as sustainably made. One thing I know about skiing, especially in the east, is that there is really nothing sustainable about the sport. The travel, the snowmaking, the lifts, the grooming, the infrastructure, the gear – all of it depends on a fairly resource-intensive operating model. So, if a pair of skis being sold as “sustainable” isn’t proof that sustainability has become a commodity, I am not sure what is.

A bit of history. It’s been over a decade since buildings started using the word sustainability as a branding statement, a clear point of differentiation and a way to signal responsibility and long-term thinking. And while there has certainly been some greenwashing, commercial real estate has, for the most part, been fairly disciplined in how it reports and communicates sustainability.

But like all branding statements, its value gets stretched. It gets co-opted. Over time it starts to mean too many things, to too many people. And as its value starts to lessen, we search for other descriptors.

Does that mean sustainability is going away? No. But sustainability as a branding exercise is.

Sustainability is being renamed, remeasured, and reconnected to value. It is now a standard of management. The next phase will be less about what a building claims and more about building proof. Much of what used to be positioned as sustainable is now an operating requirement.

The underlying pressures that made sustainability relevant in the first place have not gone away. If anything, they are getting stronger. Operating costs are rising. Energy performance matters more, not less. Climate risk is becoming harder to ignore. Insurance is more expensive and more difficult to secure. Tenants are asking better questions about comfort, air quality, resilience, technology, and how buildings are managed day to day. Investors are looking more closely at risk, asset value, reporting, and long-term performance. And owners and managers are being asked to provide better data, not just better language.

So, while the word sustainability may be used less and less, the work behind it is becoming more important. Buildings still need to use less energy, waste less water, provide healthier indoor environments, and operate with greater resilience. But the market is no longer satisfied with the idea of sustainability as a broad claim or a polished statement in an ESG report.

It needs to be more practical and more useful, with a stronger focus on operations. And owners and managers are looking at measurable performance, better data, resilience, risk management, and proof that a building is being managed well. How much energy is it using? How is water being managed? What is being done to support air quality and comfort? How are systems being maintained? Where are the risks? And how prepared is the building for disruption?

Sustainability is not being cancelled as much as it’s evolving. This new version is more practical, more operational, with buildings that can prove they are well run, resilient, risk-aware, and continually improving.