Norwegian technology innovation could drive sustainability changes in commercial real estate

Varig Technologies, a rapidly growing proptech company, offers automation software that can accelerate compliance with sustainability regulations for commercial real estate firms, as ESG and sustainability have become key priorities.

With buildings accounting for nearly 40 percent of global CO2 emissions and consuming almost 40 percent of the planet’s resources, the commercial real estate sector has recently come under close scrutiny. When Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, launched the Green Deal at the turn of the decade, it was clear that things would change. Sustainability was no longer just a “nice to have,” but a mandatory task. This has since created rapidly growing pressure to take action to secure future operations.

Change needs to happen quickly, but accessing building data and using it for sustainability improvements—along with proper reporting—can be complex and time-consuming. According to Renate Straume, founder of Varig, sustainability truly is complex because every building is unique, requiring data to be collected from many different sources to achieve a complete overview. For the necessary changes to happen fast enough, technology is essential.

After ten years in the construction and building industry, Straume launched Varig to enable owners, managers, and tenants of commercial properties to make their buildings sustainable and their businesses compliant.

The challenge with sustainability is that so many different elements must be combined—it’s essentially a complex audit. And this is where technology can help: it provides an overview of the company and the property while making details trackable, measurable, and repeatable. This is vital in an industry now under pressure to adapt and to gain new insights into their buildings. Technology removes this uncertainty and supports the learning process.

Varig also presented at the Proptech Hungary conference in May, reporting on the latest ESG developments and showcasing domestic projects already using Varig’s automated system for GRESB reports—saving significant human resources for real estate companies.

Follow our page on Facebook and LinkedIn!