Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards have evolved from corporate social responsibility to the current focus on data collection capabilities. With today's challenges related to climate change, pollution, and waste reduction, data is needed to combat greenwashing when it comes to reporting on environment issues.

Smart buildings can help with ESG reporting. In this session, David Katz, President, Sustainable Resources Management Inc., emphasizes the importance of data collection in improving building performance, mitigating risks related to climate change, and fostering economic growth.

The presentation touches upon various advancements in building automation, artificial intelligence, digital twins, and virtual reality. Katz highlights the role of standards and standardization, including Project Haystack, in enabling communication between different systems in smart buildings. Using smart building sensors, facility managers can bring diverse data together to create value. For example, pumps communicating with building automation systems.

The speaker presents a landscape of data analytics in the context of smart buildings, referencing various companies and their contributions. The importance of data in facilitating better decision-making and the emergence of digital twins is emphasized.

Katz also explores the history of building intelligence ratings, starting with the Intelligent Building Index in Asia in 2001. He covers the development and evolution of the CABA Building Intelligence Quotient (BIQ) and its application in assessing building intelligence.