Tapio built a custom tool for the real estate player Cohabs

Cohabs and Tapio have partnered up to accelerate climate actions in the real estate sector. Understanding its carbon footprint has allowed Cohabs to identify and implement new business opportunities in its full value chain.

In a nutshell

• Cohabs is a Belgian company providing flexible, fully furnished accommodations through a network of sustainable & community-driven shared homes.
• Industry: Real Estate
• Number of projects: 51 houses
• Locations: Brussels, New York, Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid
• Operational Carbon Footprint: 77.4 tons of CO₂e
• 2022 goal: measure the impact of their houses and operations
• Long-term goal: reduce carbon footprint in alignment with science
• Favorite tool: Data Collection

A custom approach for a unique business model

As a real estate player, Cohabs convinced itself early that the sector needs to undertake ambitious climate actions. The challenge was that Cohabs’ business model — operating co-living houses across multiple cities — didn’t fit standard carbon accounting frameworks. Each house is its own micro-ecosystem: its own utilities, its own residents, its own maintenance cycle.

Tapio worked with Camille Navarro and her team to design a custom data collection tool that could handle this complexity. The tool aggregates utility bills, procurement data and resident-related metrics across all 51 houses, then maps them to standardised emission factors.

From measurement to decisions

What started as a measurement exercise became a decision-making infrastructure. The custom data collection tool is now used not just by the impact team, but by:

• Procurement — to compare suppliers on a CO₂ basis, not just price.
• Design — to evaluate the carbon impact of new house renovations and material choices.
• Finance — to integrate climate KPIs into investment decisions.

This cross-functional adoption is what makes the difference between a one-off carbon report and a living climate strategy. At Cohabs, carbon is no longer a separate workstream — it’s a lens that every team uses.

Looking ahead

With its 51 houses now measured across 5 cities, Cohabs has the baseline it needs to set science-aligned reduction targets. The next step is to engage residents and suppliers in the journey, using the data to make the case for shared action.