Urban Land Institute

Paul Stepan is Managing Director and Head of Sustainability Consultancy for JLL across the UK and EMEA. Recognised as a Top 100 Global Change Leader 2025, he leads JLL’s European award-winning sustainability practice, guiding the boards and leadership teams of major institutional real estate investors and financial services organisations toward transformative decarbonisation, ESG integration, and long-term value creation. His clients include BNP Paribas, Blackstone, BlackRock, Lloyds, HSBC, and pension funds, alongside advisory work for governments on non-domestic energy efficiency potential and policy.

Over the past decade, Paul has designed and implemented global Net Zero pathways, portfolio transition strategies, and compliance programmes across all major markets, asset classes, and risk profiles — collectively representing over $500 billion AUM. His expertise combines deep technical knowledge of carbon and regulation with commercial strategy and a pioneering approach to AI adoption. Within JLL, Paul has created new AI-based methodologies now being patented and deployed globally, enabling faster, more scalable sustainability solutions for clients.

Paul’s teams have been recognised by Property Week as Sustainability Consultancy of the Year and by Verdantix as global leaders in building decarbonisation. Before joining JLL, he led the European Commercial Real Estate business at ENGIE Impact and was co-owner of Verco, a multi-award-winning sustainability consultancy.

He holds a BSc in Environmental Earth Science from the University of Reading and an MSc in Environmental Management for Business from Cranfield University. Paul sits on the Urban Land Institute’s European Sustainability Product Councils and has contributed to multiple industry ESG standards, working with leading market bodies including UKGBC and BBP.