“This was the cause I wanted to dedicate my career to”

Why did you choose a career in sustainability?

I grew up living in very polluted cities where I saw the devastating impacts of environmental mismanagement and how that could affect human lives. It was then that I realized that this was the thing — the cause — that I wanted to dedicate my career to.

How does your work at JLL make a difference?

The private sector has the agility and the scale of investment to really move the needle. There are two projects that I would highlight in particular. First, we worked last year in the lead up to COP26 with the United Nations to get companies to sign up to make net zero carbon commitments. Secondly, our team worked with the World Economic Forum to write the first global guidance on what net zero carbon means for the built environment and how businesses can achieve net zero goals in real estate.

Why is it an exciting time to work in sustainability?

When I started in this space about ten years ago, we were pushing companies to make just 5% energy efficiency savings. Now we have major companies coming to us saying that they want to reinvent their business models to be more sustainable. And they're doing this because their investors are demanding it, because their clients are demanding it, and also because they believe it to be the right thing to do for the future that they want. We're at a moment in time where you have the correct policy incentives and the right market drivers to really have the momentum and the scale of change that we need.