Applause rippled across Doyle's seafood restaurant on the edge of Sydney Harbour as lights flickered back on beneath outdoor canopies. The iconic Sydney Opera House was again visible, but the accolades were for Planet Earth.

It was 9:00pm, the end of Earth Hour 2008, and people in this cradle of sustainability celebrated the moment knowing Australia's contribution to a greener way of life had completed yet another chapter.

Scores of other cities worldwide joined in the simple act of shutting off their lights for 60 minutes on the evening of 29 March. Darkness rolled across 14 time zones and 24 countries in a manner reminiscent of the Millennium New Year Celebration.

But this was more than a party to observe the passing of time. It was a sustainable milestone for individuals, corporations and society as a whole, confirming the adage "think globally, act locally."

Sydney launched Earth Hour in March 2007, reducing the city's energy consumption by 10%, or 25 tons of carbon dioxide. This year, preliminary figures showed a 20-megawatt reduction of electric consumption. Given the expanded participation this year to a total of 370 cities, according to press estimates, the impact grew meaningfully, prompting Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore to point out to the Sydney Morning Herald, "A new green economy is set to transform the 21st century."

CoreNet Global's joint, breakthrough study with the Rocky Mountain Institute proved the same point in 2007. The results clearly showed what Earth Hour also proved: that basic solutions to energy conservation, lower carbon emissions and cost reduction can have significant and immediate impact.

The leadership opportunities are as considerable and immediate for corporate real estate (CRE), according to energy conservation guru Dr. Amory Lovins of the Institute.

And why not? After all, CRE oversees the facilities and systems that enable building operations.

One such opportunity for CRE starts with an ongoing commitment to turn off the lights every night in corporate and commercial high-rise buildings. Here is Sydney, the skyline shone as usual the evenings following Earth Hour. The same is generally true everywhere else: the lights are on and no one's home. Buildings use 40% of all energy consumed, according to the CoreNet Global - Rocky Mountain Institute findings.

CoreNet Global Australia - New Zealand Regional Director Pete Chenoweth observes that the adoption rate of energy efficient practices is in fact growing rapidly in this region where the concept of building green started long before it did in North America.

Our newly published, members-only 2007-2009 State of the Industry Report even shows Australia was slightly ahead of Europe, also considered an early adopter.

The first-ever CoreNet Global Australia New Zealand Discovery Forum taking place this week in Sydney will delve deeper into the progression of environmentally-friendly corporate practices.

Australian and New Zealand corporations including ANZ Bank, Westpac, Bovis Lend Lease, Australia Post and Vodafone NZ are leading examples.

"These and a growing number of other companies and organizations on both the demand and supply sides of the CRE industry have made sustainability an embedded business practice," Chenoweth relates. "Energy savings is a key focus, but most of these companies understand that sustainable practices must extend across and be integrated with the entire operation of the enterprise and the global supply chain."

That's another validation of the State of the Industry Report's key finding that sustainability is now being functionalized within the corporate organizational structure in the very same manner that CRE was some 20 years ago.

The Industry Tracker will update this important transformation from the Australian and New Zealand global regional perspective in the coming days on www.corenetglobal.org.