Decarbonizing Real Estate: Christopher Naismith from Audette on Turning Buildings into Financial Engines
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
Release Date: 09/03/2025
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Quick take: Most commercial buildings are controlled by 200 global logos—and the way they’re financed makes decarbonization almost impossible. Christopher and his team at Audette are flipping that script, proving sustainability and ROI can—and must—go hand in hand.
Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion
Christopher Naismith grew up on Vancouver Island surrounded by forests and ocean. After starting as a civil engineer, a career pivot led him into construction, building science, and eventually founding Audette, a fintech company redefining how real estate owners invest in decarbonization. Today, his platform models over 30,000 commercial buildings, helping some of the world’s largest portfolios cut emissions and boost asset value.
🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building
Key Insight #1: Real estate finance is the real barrier to decarbonization.
- The Challenge: Property owners avoid upgrades because they eat into short-term profits.
- The Solution: Audette models both physical systems and financial ownership structures to reveal where decarbonization adds long-term value.
- ROI: Turns sustainability from a cost center into a proven value-driver.
Key Insight #2: AI makes the “my building is special” excuse obsolete.
- The Challenge: Operators claim buildings are too unique to standardize solutions.
- The Solution: Audette uses AI and machine learning to pre-model millions of buildings, identify retrofit patterns, and predict energy use.
- ROI: Portfolio owners get audit-level insights instantly, accelerating retrofit adoption at scale.
Key Insight #3: Stability sells.
- The Challenge: ESG has become politicized, and many owners fear added costs.
- The Solution: Reframe sustainability as modernization and risk management—keeping operating costs predictable and assets resilient.
- ROI: Attracts tenants, protects asset value, and opens new revenue streams from grid participation and resilience.
Sustainable Soundbite
"At some point, all of these outdated systems will be as obsolete as a coal furnace in your basement."
— Christopher Naismith, Audette
Your Green Building Action Plan
Transform your next project with these steps:
- This Week: Start framing decarbonization not as “ESG” but as asset stability in conversations with stakeholders.
- This Quarter: Audit your portfolio for low-hanging fruit like rooftop units—swap gas-fired for heat pumps.
- This Year: Explore fintech-style tools to connect building upgrades with long-term value creation.
Connect & Learn More
- 🌿 Explore resources from this episode: GBES.com/podcast
- 🗒 Read the transcript here.
- 🔗 Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn
- 🌍 Learn more about Audette:
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