Nov. 9, 2009 (PR Newswire) -- ATLANTA and CHICAGO, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Corporate real estate (CRE) executives, whose companies drive demand for office space, are increasingly willing to invest in refurbishing their owned assets to meet sustainability goals, according to the results of the 2009 CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle sustainability survey.

In a survey of CRE executives responsible for real estate portfolios totaling billions of square feet across the globe, 70 percent said that sustainability is a critical business issue for CRE today.

A significant 89 percent consider sustainability criteria in making leasing decisions, with 46 percent always considering energy labels (such as Energy Star or HPE), and 41 always considering green building certifications (such as LEED, BREEAM, IEMA, NABERS Energy, Green Star, GreenMark or CASBEE).

Even though obtaining funds to implement sustainability strategies is a difficult or an extremely difficult challenge for 67 percent of respondents, 74 percent would pay a premium (generally 1-5 percent) to retrofit owned space for sustainability criteria, up from 53 percent in 2008.

Although most executives view sustainability as a priority, only 37 percent would consider paying a premium (between 1-10 percent), and another 21 percent indicated that they would only be willing to pay a premium rent if it was offset by lower operating costs.

CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle 2009 sustainability survey key findings

--  Sustainability is a critical business issue today for 70% of respondents
and 89% consider sustainability criteria in their location decisions
--  Green building certifications are always considered by 41% and energy
labels by 46% in administering their portfolio
--  74% say they are willing to pay a premium to retrofit space that they
own for sustainability criteria
--  21% would only pay more rent for sustainable space if offset by lower
operating costs, while 8% expect to pay less and 34% the same

--  60% are adopting workplace strategies to meet sustainability goals while
reducing overall occupancy costs

"These results clearly show that sustainability as an issue is here to stay, but companies are increasingly aware of the commercial realities," said Dan Probst, Chairman of Energy and Sustainability at Jones Lang LaSalle.