Devon Bertram on driving sustainability in real estate

As VP of Sustainability Consulting at Stok, Devon advises clients on sustainability for their building portfolios, consulting with major organizations on carbon, ESG, and more. She recently authored Stok’s Sustainable Real Estate Program Handbook, a multi-year, collaborative effort focused on driving faster change. 

“This work can be heavy,” she says. “You have to stay hopeful and be curious.” She is encouraged by growing awareness about embodied carbon and increasing collaboration across the industry at this critical time. “We need more transparency and more advocacy and policy," she says. “Data collection is still a struggle. We are just beginning to recognize the impact of the supply chain.”

Devon suggests that art and poetry nurture the introspection and creativity we need to tackle daunting challenges. Here’s the opening line from a David Whyte poem she shared with us: “Rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be.”