Sustainability Data as a Business Advantage in FM
Before your next tender goes out, check whether it asks for sustainability evidence. For most FM organisations now, it does. That shift is why the SFMI (Sustainable Facilities Management Index) exists, and it’s worth understanding what’s behind it.
A benchmark built for FM
We’ve been collecting FM-specific benchmarking data for 13 years. The SFMI was developed in 2013 by Acclaro Advisory, and it’s built on the UK’s longest-running FM sustainability benchmark. That benchmark now covers around 10,000 ESG (environmental, social and governance — the non-financial factors used to assess an organisation’s impact and risk) data points, drawn from organisations representing more than £24bn of UK FM spend.
This matters because generic sustainability frameworks don’t reflect how FM actually operates. FM has its own supply chains, its own workforce challenges, and its own route to net zero through the buildings and services it manages. A sector-specific benchmark gives you a fair comparison against organisations doing the same kind of work, rather than against a standard that doesn’t fit.
From compliance to commercial advantage
This is the part that often gets missed. All of our SFMI partners use their assessment outputs in bids, tenders or external communications. And 70% of organisations tell us sustainability reporting delivers business value beyond compliance.
That’s the shift we’ve watched happen over more than a decade. Sustainability data started as something FM organisations had to produce. It’s now something they use — to win work, to demonstrate progress to clients, and to back up commitments with evidence rather than assertion.
Rising market expectations
The pressure isn’t only coming from within FM. Across listed companies more broadly, 91% now disclose sustainability information, and 81% of those obtain independent assurance over that data. Stakeholders increasingly expect the same rigour from sustainability reporting as they do from financial reporting.
If your clients sit in that 91%, they’ll expect the same standard from their supply chain. That includes you.
Why we set up the SFMI
We set up the SFMI because FM organisations were being asked to report on sustainability without a framework built for how FM actually works. Generic ESG tools weren’t designed around service delivery, subcontracted labour, or the operational realities of managing buildings at scale.
We offer the only FM sector-specific ESG assessment, available as a Self-Assessment Tool or a Certified Assessment, depending on where your organisation is on its journey. Alongside that, we convene a community of FM professionals, share industry research and regulatory updates, and provide strategic support on specific ESG challenges.
Our work is supported by IWFM, RICS, UKGBC and ISEP. We’re also leading Scope 3 research in FM — Scope 3 covers the indirect emissions in an organisation’s supply chain, typically the hardest for FM to measure — and we recently published the first standardised Scope 3 Framework for FM, developed with FM providers and industry bodies.
What this means for you
Sustainability reporting isn’t just a compliance task any more. It now factors into procurement decisions, investment decisions, operational performance and long-term resilience. If you’re not able to evidence your position, you’re answering client and market questions from a weaker position than organisations that can.
The practical step is straightforward: understand where you stand before you’re asked. A benchmark tells you that. It shows you where you’re ahead, where you have gaps, and where to focus next — measured against organisations doing comparable work.
Next steps
If you want to see how your organisation compares, we’d suggest starting with a conversation about where you are now. You can book a discovery call with the SFMI team, or read more about the SFMI and our assessment options.
