We have more data in facilities management than ever before, but getting traction on decarbonisation still feels harder than it should be.
If you’re working across large portfolios such as retail, healthcare or education, you see it pretty quickly. Energy is being consumed in vast quantities every day, but it’s not always well controlled.
The focus has been on targets, strategy and reporting, but many organisations are stuck because they don’t know what to do, or rather how to do it consistently. This is where facilities management has a role to play.
Where decarbonisation actually happens
One thing that becomes obvious when you spend time across sites is that buildings often don’t run the way they’re meant to. Controls get overridden, schedules drift, systems run longer than they should – nothing dramatic, rather small and everyday inefficiencies that are easy to ignore when assessed individually.
But across a big portfolio, those small things soon add up. And with the way energy prices have behaved over the last few years, you feel it pretty quickly. That’s the bit facilities teams are closest to. Not theory, but what’s actually happening on the ground.
This puts them in a position to fix things that are small on paper, but meaningful at scale. The challenge is doing it consistently, not just when something spikes or gets flagged.
The data paradox
There’s no shortage of data. Most organisations today have more visibility through smart meters, building systems and cloud platforms. However, better visibility doesn’t automatically lead to better outcomes.
A lot of effort goes into reporting, tracking performance, explaining trends and building dashboards. And while that has its place, it doesn’t necessarily shift the dial on its own.
You end up in a cycle where teams are good at explaining what happened last month but are less equipped to change
what happens next.
So, the same issues linger: a site running longer than it should, something not quite tuned properly or energy usage slowly creeping up. The gap isn’t data, rather it’s turning that data into action.
What good looks like
Across different organisations, you often see a similar pattern. Some are still very heavy on reporting. They have clean and validated data, but they are still looking backwards.
Those that are better off are the ones that can compare sites, spot outliers and identify where things don’t look right. But what happens next often depends on someone picking it up manually.
The best ones though are where the data isn’t separate from operations, but a part of it. Issues get picked up earlier. Actions actually get prioritised and rolled out across multiple sites, not just one or two.
This is where things start to shift. Performance stabilises. Equipment behaves more predictably. Decisions, especially bigger
ones like upgrades or renewables, are then backed by what’s actually happening on-site.
Why procurement matters more than we think
The other piece that often gets relegated to the sidelines is procurement. How energy is bought, what tariffs are in place and how contracts are structured all have a direct impact. But it’s not always closely linked to how sites are operating.
Facilities teams usually have a good sense of how energy is used, including when demand peaks, how it shifts across the day or season and what changes actually move the needle.
In a market such as Australia, where tariffs and network constraints can vary based on location, that insight matters more
than people think.
When that operational view feeds into procurement decisions, things start to make more sense. Contracts align better. Demand is managed deliberately. There’s more confidence in how renewables or pricing exposure is handled.
It’s not about making procurement more complex, rather it’s about grounding it in how buildings actually behave.
From insight to impact
For most organisations, the next step isn’t another system or more layers of reporting, but getting more out of what already exists.
Facilities management sits in a powerful position right in the middle of data, operations and procurement. Because, when you break it down, decarbonisation doesn’t come from one big initiative.
It comes from lots of smaller things, done repeatedly, such as fixing a control issue, adjusting a schedule, picking up something early before it drifts too far, replacing equipment at the right time and making slightly better procurement decisions based on real usage.
None of these on their own is particularly complex, but they collectively compound and that’s usually the difference.
The organisations that move forward aren’t always the ones with the most advanced tools or the best dashboards, but those that close the gap between knowing and doing. Because, at the end of the day, data doesn’t reduce emissions. What you do with it does.
Mayur Bajaj is the manager for Energy & Reporting at City Facilities Management.
This article first appeared in the September 2026 edition of FM magazine. To download the entire edition for free, click here.
Images: Generated using AI
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