Meet the sustainability guru making green living a reality for property seekers

As head of sustainability at PropertyGuru Group, Cecile Corda has helped launch innovative new programs to help property seekers make more considered choices

As the head of sustainability at PropertyGuru Group, Cecile Corda understands the importance of promoting eco-friendly changes in the real estate sector—an industry which, she is quick to point out, is responsible for about 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

“Sustainable development is the cornerstone of creating a resilient real estate industry,” she says. “Our expertise, coupled with proprietary data and advanced analytics, positions us to offer innovative solutions essential for developing the cities of tomorrow.”

Under Corda’s leadership, PropertyGuru has ramped up its sustainability initiatives, while injecting fresh energy into existing ones and launching innovative new programs. Among these, the “Green Score” stands out, offering property seekers a unique tool to evaluate homes based on their sustainable features, empowering them to make choices that reflect their commitment to environmental responsibility.

Another notable initiative is the “Liveability Index,” introduced in Malaysia, which assesses a wide range of factors contributing to vibrant and sustainable living environments. The sustainability categories at the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards continue to spotlight and reward exemplary eco-friendly projects, inspiring real estate developers to pursue and prioritise sustainability in their developments.

Corda, from France, is a longtime sustainability advocate in Asia. She has been instrumental in providing both technical and strategic support to companies striving to improve their ESG performance and manage climate change risks. Her efforts are geared towards guiding these companies in their transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.

By promoting international best practices, she helps organisations build a strong business case for environmental change, covering a broad spectrum of areas including climate mitigation and adaptation, protection of natural capital, the circular economy, plastic reduction, sustainable and ethical supply chains, innovation, and sustainable finance.

“Our ‘Gurus for Good’ strategy is central to delivering our vision, driving us to excel both as a business and a socially responsible leader. We’ve poured our hearts into understanding what people need and then turning those insights into action,” she says.

What is PropertyGuru’s Green Score initiative?

An increasing number of property seekers are looking for more sustainable homes. The demand for sustainable housing is driven by the belief that it’s the right thing to do. Another driver is that the cost of living in, and powering, homes is increasing.

PropertyGuru Green Score was launched in 2021 in Singapore, and it empowers people to make more informed decisions by highlighting sustainable credentials of properties. Our Green Score uses two metrics to assign a sustainability rating to listings on our platform in Singapore. The first metric relates to the number of rapid transit stations and bus stops. The closer the property is to a transportation hub, the higher the score.

The second metric is the number of sustainability awards won (for example, the BCA Green Mark certification) by the development. Each of these metrics receives a rating from 1 to 5, with 1 being “average” and 5 being “excellent.”

By displaying the Green Score on our listings, we hope to encourage property seekers to choose homes with relevant sustainability characteristics, recognise sustainable housing projects and developers, and raise awareness around lower impact living. This will stimulate developers and the real estate industry to prioritise sustainability when researching, developing, and innovating new products and buildings.

What is the idea behind the Liveability Index?

The value of a property comes from more than just its price, size, and accessibility. We have identified that there is also intrinsic value in aspects like the sense of community, mobility, and sustainability. For us, liveability is based on how well those factors serve communities in a certain area.

PropertyGuru has developed a liveability index, transforming powerful data sets to guide insight-driven decisions within the real estate industry. What sets our liveability index apart is that it uses our proprietary data, offering insights right down to the building-project level rather than at the city level. It provides our customers with a level of granularity and localised insight both into rural and urban areas.

The index has five categories: housing affordability and quality; availability and accessibility of amenities in neighbourhoods; factors affecting our natural environment such as air quality, flood, and heat risks; quality of public transport infrastructure to enable mobility; and employment opportunities offered by economic activity.

It can be used to analyse existing neighbourhoods for benchmarking and opportunity identification or to help prioritise aspects of development during the planning stages.

Developers, urban planners, and policymakers can use it to identify tangible opportunities to improve the liveability of an area or a project. For instance, if an area is missing certain desired public amenities, township developers and local governments can work together to develop those.

If a planned project does not measure up against the rest of the neighbourhood, it can pinpoint areas of concern and enable careful scenario modelling and proactive management strategies.

What are some of PropertyGuru’s recent initiatives to help address climate change in the region?

Southeast Asia is expected to be one of the regions the most impacted by climate change. We already see its consequences with more frequent and intense storms, flash floods, and extreme heat. Finding ways to predict and adapt to climate impacts will help futureproof the real estate sector and PropertyGuru has a key role in this.

Thanks to the climate risk insights we provide, our customers can take better account of the impact of climate change on their projects and assets. They can make informed decisions and improve their investment strategy.

For example, in Malaysia, the combination of development processes, urban planning, and annual monsoons makes properties particularly susceptible to recurrent flooding— something we’re seeing increasingly regularly.

As many of our customers are based in Malaysia, data insights could play a pivotal role in shaping their development and investment strategies, driving the integration of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures into their projects.

Since 2023, we have partnered with Intensel—a climate risk software solution company—to provide risk analysis to our customers. By combining satellite imagery with climate modelling and our proprietary data, we offer climate insights relevant to our customers’ specific locations. It offers advantages whether you’re an agent, property seeker, developer, or someone purchasing land or a building

How does recognition, including at the Asia Property Awards, help drive positive change?

The Asia Property Awards recognise and reward the finest real estate and sustainable best practices. Responsible development has become much more of an industry focus. With this evolution, we’ve seen a greater understanding of the role sustainability should play in the real estate industry. The sustainability awards create an opportunity to educate and engage developers on this journey.

But while it’s true that understanding is on the increase, progress isn’t necessarily happening uniformly across markets. For example, to qualify for the Green Development award, projects must be certified by an international green certification body. The Best Eco-Friendly Development award category was added to reward green projects that have not yet applied for accreditation or have no access to the application. We also created our Special Recognition awards to encourage developers who commit to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Design and Construction, or Building Communities.

Delivering impact is also about creating space for diverse voices. We host the annual Asia Real Estate Summit, which promotes diverse speakers, topics, and panels. This includes recognising outstanding women leaders who are blazing a trail in our industry.

The sustainability awards, and the summit are about highlighting both environmental and social impacts. We recently created a separate prize—the PropertyGuru Visionary Award—which honours individuals who deliver remarkable, innovative community benefits and inspire positive change. In 2023, we gave this award to the climate-responsive architect Vinu Daniel, founder of Wallmakers, for his sustainable designs using mud and debris.

The original version of this article appeared in PropertyGuru Property Report Magazine Issue No. 185 on issuu and Magzter. Write to our editors at [email protected].