Growing up on the island of Guam, Cass McFadden had an early appreciation of nature and its resources. She often spent time at the beach fishing and snorkeling in the water, trekking through the jungle, and gazing at the stars.
That early connection to nature prompted her interest in disaster preparedness and sustainability as she witnessed the impacts of Guam’s seasonal typhoons on what felt like a true paradise.
Today as vice president and Cortland’s first global head of sustainability, McFadden is laying out strategic goals for the vertically integrated multifamily firm. She shares more below.
Can you share a little on how you landed at Cortland?
After interning and clerking for various government agencies, including the Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, I landed regulatory roles in the energy industry.
In 2017, I pivoted to multifamily real estate with AvalonBay, leading its energy management team. I was brought in to help refine utilities management, budgeting, resident billing, and to develop new solutions to drive emissions reductions. I continued my multifamily run with Bozzuto as the vice president of sustainability.
In 2022, I was approached by Cortland for the firm’s first global head of sustainability role. Eager to help build an impactful sustainability program within a vertically integrated business model, I made the move to Atlanta.
How are you driving new sustainability initiatives for Cortland?
As Cortland’s vice president and global head of sustainability, I set the strategic vision for global sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) for the firm, focusing on enhancing its communities’ environmental performance, and I oversee the utilities function. My goal has been to integrate sustainability seamlessly into our core business operations.
Recently, two of Cortland’s flagship institutional funds—a core-plus open-end fund and a closed-end value-add fund—have achieved remarkable milestones in their sustainability performance. Initially rated at two stars in the 2022 GRESB assessment, a leading ESG benchmark for real estate investments, both funds received a five-star rating in 2024 (reflecting the 2023 reporting period). This top-tier rating highlights a significant improvement and is a direct result of our relentless dedication to enhancing environmental practices across key GRESB indicators, such as energy, water, waste management, greenhouse gas emissions, robust data monitoring, review processes, and building certifications. (Cortland pays an annual fee to GRESB for their review of its application.)
In addition, further solidifying the firm's commitment to responsible investment practices, we've adopted the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). This pivotal move aligns the firm with a global network of investors dedicated to integrating ESG considerations into their investment strategies and ownership policies.
This year, we continue to spearhead numerous strategic initiatives that have enhanced our firm's sustainability practices. We are also prioritizing setting reduction targets for the firm’s longer-term execution.
Can you tell us about LED retrofitting projects across Cortland’s properties?
We view LED retrofits as one “low-hanging fruit” opportunity to achieve greater energy efficiency across our portfolio. We target these opportunities early in the investment due diligence process, during renovation scoping, and then within periodic energy audits.
We’ll continue to review our portfolio for LED—and other—retrofit opportunities that help us achieve the double materiality of reducing our energy consumption and enhancing net operating income at the asset level.
What are some ways the multifamily industry as a whole could better adhere to sustainability practices?
Industry leaders need to focus on enhancing sustainability expertise within their organizations and identifying experts who can significantly impact all strategic areas.
A challenge in the multifamily industry is that energy and sustainability are not typically within the core competencies of organizations; this concept is relatively new. For instance, the approach to utilities management needs expansion. Often, the assumption is simple: Receive a utility bill, pay it, and services continue uninterrupted. However, this overlooks the significant opportunities for optimization, which can lead to substantial environmental and financial benefits. Effective sustainability isn't just about making a positive environmental impact, which could be crucial for disclosures or investor relations; it's also about realizing potential savings at the asset level through precise strategies. This involves leveraging expertise in many areas, such as energy efficiency, irrigation, waste diversion, innovative design and construction, and climate readiness, to achieve both environmental and financial gains.
Moreover, it’s vital to capitalize on best practices and tools already available in the market. For example, if local incentives or mechanisms, such as free audits for reduced utility contract pricing or profitable billing models for solar energy, exist, they should be utilized. Failing to do so allows competitors to gain an edge, eroding your competitive advantage. Being proactive in leveraging existing market tools and incentives is crucial for maintaining competitiveness in your portfolio.
How are you securing contracts for renewable energy sourcing for Cortland? What could this mean for the future?
We strategically chose to manage most of our renewable energy procurement through a single third-party provider that also oversees our utilities, billing management, and some ESG data documentation. This provider has established partnerships with utilities, enabling them to secure advantageous pricing and terms for us. Given my background in energy, I felt confident about retaining analysis and decision-making in-house.
We typically look for contracts that are about two to three years long, fully covered by renewable energy credits. We have successfully identified contracts that also yield annualized savings. As our common-area contracts expire or turn over, our renewable energy procurement strategy not only facilitates the greening of these contracts but also ensures savings across various assets, simplifying the pathway to decarbonizing our portfolio.
While there are other larger long-term CapEx projects to consider, such as solar due diligence, leveraging existing contracts for common areas provides a readily accessible and straightforward method to integrate renewable energy into our communities. This approach not only results in long-term cost savings but also forms a continuous component of our decarbonization strategy.
What is something people often get wrong with sustainability?
Some people assume that sustainability is not a vital component of a sound business strategy, often dismissing it due to its various labels over the years, such as ESG, and its diverse treatment in political spheres and financial realms. However, if you examine the laundry list of components that make up a well-developed sustainability program, they typically align with the principles of solid asset management and high operational excellence. Integrating sustainability fosters deep investment insights and enhances risk management across the portfolio. Ultimately, being meticulous about sustainability practices and focusing on tailored activities clearly supports fiduciary obligations and contributes to operational excellence.
How are you celebrating Earth Day?
Cortland mobilizes at the community level to celebrate Earth Day annually. Our community managers lead the charge on developing unique community engagement ideas that benefit their local communities and interest our residents. Previously, this approach has inspired fun and engaging waste management events or family-friendly mixers with information on energy use. We’ve also focused on events related to specific behaviors that tie into our sustainable living addendum to encourage certain behaviors that contribute to a more positive bottom line for the property itself, in addition to the environment.
This year, we're taking our commitment to sustainability a step further by hosting a swap shop at our corporate office in Atlanta. Many of our associates look forward to bringing their gently used items to exchange with one another. This exciting event fosters a sense of community and supports the circular economy by giving goods a second life.
