Climate Solutions in Real Estate: Tackling Risk, Affordability, and Insurance

In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by John Rogers, Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and Kirby Brendsel, Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where they discuss all things climate and housing affordability, and the solutions that are out there to help solve the issues! 

John and Kirby explained the importance of providing data and analytics around climate risk to allow companies to measure the financial impact of climate change up to the year 2050, thus helping companies, cities, and governments to put in place mitigation plans.   

Tune into this episode to hear more about how climate solutions can help with mitigation, housing affordability and insurance, and how our guest’s collaboration create a rising tide that lifts all ships. 

 

Companies mentioned 

New York Communities Corp Inc 

IBM 

Deloitte  

LMRE’S 2023 Salary Report 

IPCC 

 

Episode Highlights 

My big advice for anyone would be that if you're passionate; follow your passion, go for the things that you want to do, or things that you can make a difference on, even on a small scale related to sustainability. – Kirby 

We provided something called ‘climate risk analytics’ which is an insight that allows companies to measure model and mitigate the financial impact of climate change – John  

It’s all about using data, improving your data, and capturing your data to make sound strategic decisions that helps you drive things forward – Kirby  

The chef scientist of NASA said to us that he’d never expected to get to this level of granularity in his lifetime – John  

 

Key Takeaways  

How Flagstar and CoreLogic are working together to help address the issue of climate change and housing affordability 

John explains the ‘average annual loss’ which CoreLogic provides that is a ratio of a building’s risk in terms of reconstruction costs, allowing companies to understand their financial risk 

Kirby explains how important the use of data is in making strategic decisions around climate and sustainability 

The opportunity in cities that have a high climate risk to use CoreLogic’s analytics platform 

The guests discuss the importance of educating people on the long term impact of climate change 

John discusses how the needs of CoreLogic’s customers change and how they accommodate for this 

 

About our guests 

John Rogers  

John Rogers holds the role of Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and is responsible for the R&D. From driving new solutions that understand the impacts to the real estate economy due to climate change, to ground-breaking models that identify suitable land for affordable housing development, the R&D group tackles major housing issues and works with many clients across the housing industry to drive growth and mitigate risk on their book of business.    

Prior to joining CoreLogic, John was a Partner with IBM Global Business Services where he focused on the delivery of large multi-million transformational programs for the financial sector both in the United Kingdom and Australia. Prior to this, John worked as a consultant for Itim Consulting, a boutique management firm based in London. John’s primary role was as a program manager on a number of assignments delivering global solutions within retail, pharmaceuticals, logistics and information services industries.  

John earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Glasgow, United Kingdom in Aerospace Engineering.  

  

Company Summary: CoreLogic  

CoreLogic is a leading provider of property insights and innovative solutions, working to transform the property industry by putting people first. Using its network, scale, connectivity and technology, CoreLogic delivers faster, smarter, more human-centered experiences, that build better relationships, strengthen businesses, and create a more resilient societ y. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.  

  

Kirby Brendsel  

Kirby Brendsel is Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where he leads Flagstar's strategic sustainability and initiatives and the company's goal to be a recognized global sustainability leader.  He is coming from Welltower Inc.’s (a real estate investment trust) where he headed their award-winning strategic sustainability and ESG initiatives.  Prior to joining Welltower in 2019, Mr. Brendsel worked at Nuveen as a Director of Responsible Investing.  Before Nuveen, he served as Associate Director of Sustainability for Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, where he supported the strategy, integration and management of Starwood’s sustainability program and worked collaboratively with the community programs/Starwood Foundation team on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy and reporting.  Previously, Mr. Brendsel consulted for Deloitte where he assisted in the creation of Deloitte’s Federal Sustainability practice and Diversity & Inclusion program.  Mr. Brendsel’s other past roles include active-duty service as a Military Intelligence Corps Major in the U.S. Army.   

Mr. Brendsel graduated with distinction and honors from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Business and the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University with an M.B.A. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Green Associate (GA), and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.  Mr. Brendsel was recently recognized as an Honoree for 2020 by Environment + Energy Leader’s annual "best of" list of environment and energy professionals - the E+E 100.     

Mr. Brendsel is active in his local community, where he has served on the Board of Directors of the Aspetuck Land Trust and Lachat Town Farm Commission as well as on the Town of Weston’s Sustainability Committee, Historical Society, and Conservation and Parks & Recreation Commissions.    

   

Company Summary: Flagstar  

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York with regional headquarters in Troy, Michigan. At June 30, 2023, the Company had $118.8 billion of assets, $84.9 billion of loans, deposits of $88.5 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $11.1 billion.   

Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates 436 branches, including strong footholds in the Northeast and Midwest and exposure to high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. Flagstar Mortgage operates nationally through a wholesale network of approximately 3,000 third-party mortgage originators. In addition, the Bank has 132 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses.  

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has market-leading positions in several national businesses, including multi-family lending, mortgage origination and servicing, and warehouse lending. The Company is the 2nd largest multi-family portfolio lender in the country and the leading multi-family portfolio lender in the New York City market area, where it specializes in rent-regulated, non-luxury apartment buildings. Flagstar Mortgage is the 8th largest bank originator of residential mortgages for the 12-months ending June 30, 2023, while we are the industry's 5th largest sub-servicer of mortgage loans nationwide, servicing 1.6 million accounts with $426 billion in unpaid principal balances. Additionally, the Company is the 2nd largest mortgage warehouse lender nationally based on total commitments.  

 

About Our Host   

Louisa Dickins   

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.     

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.