Building your decarbonization roadmap end-to-end: from data to CapEx

Scaler's Roadmap Tool turns the data you already collect into a costed decarbonization plan: which assets to prioritize, which measures to fund, and when. This guide walks through the recommended workflow, twelve steps across four phases, from getting your data ready to signing off a CapEx plan you can defend to an investment committee. Each step links to the relevant deep-dive article.

Work through it in order the first time. On later cycles you can jump to the phase you need, because the roadmap updates as your data and inputs change.

Each phase builds on the one before: clean, in-scope data makes the pathway comparison meaningful, the pathway shows where each asset strands, and the model turns that into a funded, approved plan.

Set what the roadmap includes and narrow it to the assets you want to act on.

Step 1 — Roadmap settings. In the Asset List, set every asset you want in the roadmap to active in Analytics and set its ownership dates (Owned since, Owned until). Check each asset's Status is correct (Standing Investment, New Construction, Major Renovation); new construction and major renovation skew the latest year of data. Record planned disposals as Sell measures with the year the asset leaves, and planned purchases as acquisitions.

Step 2 — Property type coverage. CRREM pathway coverage depends on property type, so get this right early. Confirm each asset's property type and subtype are set correctly, then check the pathway you plan to use covers them. CRREM North America supports far fewer types; any unmapped asset gets no curve and drops out of the pathway analysis.

Step 3 — Segment your working set. Narrow the roadmap to the assets you want to improve this cycle. Filter out assets you will not act on, such as planned disposals and assets in major renovation. Give the assets in your segment a Tag under Asset Details so you can pull them up quickly in the Roadmap Tool.

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Full coverage, reliable data, and the right factors are what the plan runs on.

Step 4 — Energy data coverage. The Roadmap Tool works on active floor area (the area covered by meters set to active), not GFA or CRREM's GIA, so meters must be set up correctly. Make sure energy coverage is full and every meter is active and covering the right area; coverage below about 95% distorts the projected pathway. Filter to work with assets at or above your coverage threshold (95% or higher recommended).

Step 5 — Data reliability. Review how reliable each asset's data is by monitoring method (smart meter, conventional meter, invoice, estimated, cluster). Estimated and cluster data are weak signals. For working-set assets on estimated or cluster data, get real or smart-meter data where you can.

Step 6 — Emission factors. Review the emission factors applied in the Emission Factors tool and confirm they are the ones you want your GHG numbers measured against.

Step 7 — Normalization and baseline year. Under the View dropdown on Roadmap Analysis, choose how to normalize consumption (weather, time, occupancy, or time and occupancy), and set the baseline year the pathway extrapolates from. Use the last completed year if this year's collection is not done.

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Choose the pathway the roadmap steers towards and confirm the targets you are held to.

Step 8 — Pathway. Turn on a preloaded pathway or create a custom one in Targets & Benchmarks (Targets & Pathways tab), then toggle Show in Analytics so it appears in the roadmap. Pathways cover energy and GHG only. In the roadmap, select the pathway to steer towards; you can compare up to two pathways at once.

Step 9 — Stranding and targets. Review the stranding year for each asset (when it is projected to breach the pathway) so you know where to act first. Confirm the portfolio reduction targets the plan will be held against this year.

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Model measures on the assets that need them, then get the plan approved.

Step 10 — Modelling. Model measures on the priority (stranding) assets and check the projected pathway responds. Each measure needs its Status set to active and both energy and GHG reductions entered, or it will not move the trend. The AI Measure Suggestion can propose measures with estimated impact and cost. Check the modelled plan's total CapEx sits within the approved budget for the year.

Step 11 — Approval. Walk the plan through with the asset managers who will execute it, so the sequencing and assumptions hold up. Record the final go-ahead.

Step 12 — Complete. Once every step is done, mark the annual roadmap review complete to close out the cycle.

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The approved plan feeds Scaler's financial and reporting views. On the Measure financials tab, every measure with financial inputs rolls up into portfolio NPV, IRR, MACC, the capital deployment timeline, and embodied carbon over the measure life. At portfolio level you can generate the GRESB-aligned CRREM transition report and download the year-by-year audit trail.

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