< Previous106 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION in this year’s rankings demonstrates that ESG is increasingly top of mind on a global scale, with APAC entering the fray in earnest (on this stage, anyway) for 2024.” The Center for Active Design shares with us its latest global data and analysis from the Fitwell healthy building certification standard it oversees that currently has more than 2.5 billion sq. ft. registered on its platform, impacting more than 2.6 million people in 50 countries. Among many Fitwel case studies is a recent report performed with QuadReal Property Group across 60 properties showing that healthy building strategies “not only improve human health — they drive occupant satisfaction and financial outcomes.” An updated Fitwel standard was released in early June that introduces a “Smart Scorecard.” In May, the Global Wellness Institute reported that the wellness real estate market — defined as homes and buildings that are proactively designed and built to support the holistic health of their residents — grew from $225 billion in 2019 to $438 billion in 2023. Another data partner is CSRHub, the organization that tracks environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics for more than 56,000 companies across 210 countries using more than 900 sources. CSRHub co-founders Bahar Gidwani and Cynthia Figge cross-reference their data on companies with Site Selection’s proprietary company facility project investment data in its Conway Projects Database to see where high-CSR companies are investing. “The number of entities touched by both of our studies has grown,” Gidwani says. “We can now track the difference between the average rating and the siting company rating for 61 countries and 48 U.S. states. One thing that strikes me is that siting companies have average ratings that are almost always above the scores of the local country ratings. (They are always above the average for our state comparison.) This confirms that the entities that expand into other areas are, in general, those who have good sustainability profiles.” More Than Virtue Signaling That pattern appears to be in contrast to regulations some localities have introduced that seek to limit or completely eliminate ESG departments or remove it as an allowable consideration in investment prioritization by states. More than 20 states have passed or introduced legislation to prohibit ESG considerations in state investment decision-making. S&P Global reported last fall that at least 165 bills and resolutions against ESG investment criteria were introduced in 37 states between January and June 2023, “despite legislative analyses that pointed to billions of dollars in potential losses.” But that didn’t mean they moved forward. As of June, according to a report S&P cited by climate risk consultancy Pleiades Strategy, just over half of those initiatives had failed, although “the North Carolina Legislature overrode a veto from the state’s Democratic governor June 27, securing the 20th anti-ESG law so far this year,” S&P reported. North Carolina continues to score well in our sustainability rankings at No. 4 in the nation, with the Charlotte metro region ranked No. 3 among all U.S. metros. The state is also home to the U.S. DOE-supported North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University, whose data feed into our rankings. Established in 1995, the center is the operator of The sun sets behind the T-bone Wind and Ribeye Wind farms near Dumas, Texas, a state where 40,556 MW of wind power in 2022 accounted for more than 26% of all U.S. wind-sourced electricity. Photo by Werner Slocum courtesy of NREL108 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION the DSIRE national database of state and local incentives and policies that support renewable energy and energy effi ciency in the United States. Across the areas of distributed solar, grid modernization, transportation electrifi cation, and power decarbonization, the organization’s Autumn Proudlove reported in December, the DSIRE team tracked more than , actions taken by states and utilities in . Can green policy itself drive business attraction and a greener building and tenant portfolio? CBRE in New York City reported in January that over a three-year period from through , energy-related fi rms ( of which were renewables companies) signed leases in the city, motivated in part by the state’s $ billion commitment torenewavle power goals. In other words, companies with sustainability on their minds, far from weighing down regions with their moral priorities, appear to be helping those regions’ economies soar. Measurabl CEO Matt Ellis, for one, has some thoughts on ESG and real estate: “When it comes to real estate, the political attack on ESG is superfi cial and has not impacted the longstanding, day-to-day eff orts to acquire and apply ESG data toward more profi table business,” he tells Site Selection. “Real estate owners, investors and their counterparts in appraisal, lending, insurance, leasing and so on are focused on maximizing income with minimum risk and know ESG has a material diff erence in how they underwrite that equation. “For example,” Ellis says, “one thing we do at Measurabl is take energy consumption across an entire portfolio to calculate carbon impact and the resulting regulatory exposure a given building and ultimately a portfolio faces. Not only does that help net operating income (NOI), which is often the largest controllable expense in a building, but it informs capex investment and tradeoff s between asset value and cash fl ow. “Our industry knows that a rose by any other name is still a rose,” Ellis says. “Some politicians have tried to redefi ne ESG in real estate as mere virtue signaling. But, for the last years, it has instead been an increasingly well informed, judicious calibration between risk and reward — the exact thing politicians and regulators say they want from business. And that’s where real estate is, in fact, setting the leading example.” TOP 10 U.S. METRO AREAS 1. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX 2. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 3. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC 4. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN 5. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ 6. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA 7. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO 8. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA 9. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 10. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV In 2023, California accounted for 24% of the nation’s ENERGY STAR building certifi cations with 2,114. Sources: LEED Certifi ed Buildings – USGBC, cumulative and per capita, May 2024; Energy Star Buildings, cumulative and per capita, January 2024; latest Measurabl Data on building-level energy effi ciency; latest Fitwel building certifi cation data, cumulative and per capita; Green Industry Projects (Conway Data Projects Database) as defi ned by federal NAICS industry codes considered part of green industry supply chain, Jan. 1, 2021, through March 31, 2024, cumulative and per capita110 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION T hings are looking up in Louisiana. Having lagged behind some of its prospering Southern neighbors, the Pelican State is coming off a year of accumulated capital investments totaling some $25.7 billion, with all manner of billion-dollar projects waiting in the wings. Down river from New Orleans, the $2 billion Louisiana International Terminal is a play to position Louisiana as the gateway to the nation’s midsection. In nearby Plaquemines Parish, Venture Global’s $21.4 billion LNG complex — designed to serve voracious global markets — is the largest privately financed energy investment in Louisiana history. They’re just two of numerous port and energy projects that bode well for Louisiana’s future. by GARY DAUGHTERS gary.daughters@siteselection.com Louisiana STATE SPOTLIGHT The state’s new leader of economic development is here to ‘blow it up.’ Things to Know About Louisiana 5 Susan Bourgeois, Secretary, Louisiana Dept. of Economic Development Photo courtesy of LED112 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION Louisiana’s politics are in transition, its voters’ predilection for ping-ponging between the two political parties having held true last November. Republican Jeff Landry — succeeding Democrat John Bel Edwards — is pledging a whole new approach to economic development. To see it through, Landry tapped Susan Bonnett Bourgeois to lead Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the state agency dedicated to creating new workforce opportunities. A veteran of the private sector, Bourgeois spoke at length with Site Selection about Louisiana’s new direction. Here are fi ve things we learned during the hour-long conversation on May . 1 Susan Bourgeois is a “playa.” She’s candid about the challenges facing Louisiana, yet confi dent they can be met. Having most recently served in the philanthropic sector, Bourgeois held several positions under Republican Governor Mike Foster in the s and later founded a successful consulting group. She was nearing retirement, she told Site Selection, when the call from Governor Landry came. Susan Bourgeois : I have some politics in my background, but not traditional economic development in the practitioner sense. Ironically, that is exactly why I’m in the seat I’m in today. When Governor Landry got elected, he had a broad philosophical commitment to the fact that some of Louisiana’s embedded structures, systems and policies — and sometimes our politics — are a great deal of what’s holding us back from the success that many other Southern states are enjoying, and he committed immediately to blowing up those systems. It’s a very diff erent BY THE NUMBERS LOUISIANA Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 945,938 Number of NCRCs: 265,015 | & Improved 2022–23: 14.08% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: -1 Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.54 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 100.7% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 2.13 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M APM Terminals B.V. Plaquemines 500 UBE Corp./ UBE C1 Chemicals America Jeff erson 500 Mexichem UK Iberville 400 Capchem Technology USA Ascension 350 Ada Carbon Solutions Red River 251 Source: Conway Projects Database (ABOVE) New Orleans Photo: Getty Images (INSET) A planned 900-acre container terminal south of New Orleans. Image courtesy of APM Terminals ... sometimes our politics are a great deal of what’s holding us back.” — Susan Bourgeois , Secretary, Louisiana Dept. of Economic Development Democrat John ... sometimes our politics are a great ceeding Democrat John — is hole h Next >