The Data Dividend
The economics of sustainability data are upside down.
Today, owners pay to submit their data to platforms that aggregate it and sell benchmarks back. The value flows one way. SDX inverts this: the platform is free, and contributors receive a share of the revenue their data generates. This page explains how.
Why this matters
Every sustainability platform in the market today operates the same way: owners pay to submit data, the platform aggregates it into proprietary benchmarks, then sells those benchmarks back — often to the same owners who provided the inputs. The value created by contributor data is captured entirely by the platform operator.
The Data Dividend inverts this model. SDX is completely free to use for everyone — owners, their consultants, and third-party software platforms can all read from and write to the platform at zero cost. SDX only monetizes board-approved licensed content sold to third parties. Contributors receive that content free for their own internal use, plus a share of the revenue generated. The more you contribute, the larger your dividend.
This isn’t theoretical — it’s the same economic model that powers DTCC, SWIFT, and S&P index families in financial markets. The difference is that SDX applies it to real estate sustainability data for the first time.
The Data Dividend
Your data creates value. You should share in it.
Contribute
Owners submit verified utility + asset data via approved providers.
Standardize
SDX normalizes, QA-scores, and establishes audit lineage.
Benchmark
SDX licenses aggregated, anonymized benchmarks to the market.
Share
Surplus revenue distributed back to contributors as dividends.
Cost Center → Profit Center
Dividend formula is objective and auditable — weighted by eligible buildings, floor area, completeness, and data freshness.
Licensed Content
The sole source of revenue
The platform is free. The only monetization is board-approved licensed content — sold to third parties, free to contributors for internal use.
Benchmark subscriptions — aggregated, anonymized peer benchmarks by asset class, geography, and cohort
Regulator-grade data packs — standardized, versioned outputs for public agencies
Index partnerships — curated benchmark series for third-party indices and underwriting tools
Certification programs — optional attestation for the SDX Data Quality Standard
Shared Value Model
How the economics work
The platform is completely free to use — for everyone. The only monetization comes from board-approved licensed content purchased by third parties.
Data Contributors
- Free platform access — all tools to read, write, benchmark, and report at zero cost
- Free licensed content for internal use — benchmarks, indices, and analytics for your own portfolio
- Data dividends — share of revenue from third-party licensed content sales
Third-Party Providers
- Free to integrate — read and write data on behalf of owners at zero cost
- Free API access for contributing data on behalf of their owner clients
- Open APIs and equal integration terms for all ecosystem participants
Licensed Content Buyers
- Third parties who want to consume board-approved licensed content pay to access it
- Aggregate benchmarks, indices, analytics datasets, and regulator-grade data packs
- This is the only source of monetization for SDX
Key economic principles
No fees to use the platform — Everyone can read from and write to SDX for free. Owners, their consultants, and third-party software platforms all access the full platform at zero cost.
Licensed content is the sole revenue source — SDX only monetizes board-approved derivative data products: anonymized, aggregated benchmarks, indices, and analytics datasets. These are licensed to third parties who want to consume them for their own commercial purposes.
Contributors get licensed content free — Data contributors never pay for licensed content so long as it is for their own internal use. Re-licensing or redistributing content requires a commercial arrangement.
Surplus allocation — After operating costs, surplus revenue from licensed content sales is governed by the board: returned to contributors as data dividends, reinvested in platform capabilities, or used to expand the platform.
The Dividend Formula
How your share is calculated
An objective, auditable formula that rewards both breadth and quality of contribution — and treats every asset class and owner size equitably.
Number of Buildings
More buildings contributed means a larger share. Incentivizes organizations to bring their full portfolio onto the platform.
Total Square Footage
Larger properties contribute more data to the platform. Floor area weighting ensures proportional recognition of contribution scale.
Data Quality Score
Completeness, coverage, and freshness of whole-building data. Higher quality data produces better benchmarks and earns a larger dividend.
Whole-Building Completeness
Energy, water, waste, and emissions data for the entire building. Incentivizes contributors to close data gaps, not just report partial metrics.
Designed for fairness
The weighted formula creates the right incentives: contribute more assets and strive for the highest quality whole-building data. SDX provides every contributor the free tools to achieve both — benchmarking, data quality scoring, gap detection, and audit-readiness tracking.
The model treats small and large owners equitably. A 50-building portfolio with excellent data quality can earn a proportionally competitive dividend alongside a 500-building portfolio with moderate completeness. Quality multiplies quantity.
Different asset classes are treated fairly. An industrial owner may have large properties and extensive portfolios but relatively sparse whole-building data compared to an office REIT. Since all asset classes and owners face the same data constraints in their respective markets, the formula applies the same weighting uniformly — no asset class is advantaged or penalized.
One dividend per building, per owner
If an owner has a building managed through multiple software platforms that each integrate with SDX, SDX pays the dividend only once to the underlying owner. This prevents duplicate payouts and ensures the dividend pool is distributed fairly based on unique building contributions.
Objective and auditable — no subjective adjustments
Published methodology — every contributor can verify their own calculation
Board-governed — formula changes require owner supermajority
Trust Guardrails
Privacy and transparency by design
No raw data sales
Only aggregated, anonymized benchmark products. Building-level data is never shared.
Full transparency
Methods, operating budget, and financials published annually. Auditable by contributors.
Objective formula
Weighted by eligible buildings, floor area, completeness, and freshness. No subjective adjustments.
The Flywheel
Participation drives quality drives revenue drives dividends.
More Participation
Better Benchmarks
More Revenue
Larger Dividends
Cycle repeats — dividends attract more participants
Proven Precedent
This model already works in finance
DTCC, SWIFT, and S&P iBoxx all monetize derived benchmarks from contributed data — without ever selling raw inputs.
DTCC
User-owned financial market infrastructure where participants collectively fund and govern shared rails.
SWIFT
Global cooperative owned by member financial institutions — neutral messaging infrastructure with shared governance.
S&P iBoxx
Benchmark families built from contributed pricing inputs under codes of conduct, producing widely used market benchmarks.
FAQ
Addressing your concerns
Want to understand the economics in more detail?
The dividend formula, licensed content catalog, and financial methodology are documented in the Support center. If something is unclear, tell us.