Building performance body announces additional goals to reduce carbon emissions

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Building performance body announces additional goals to reduce carbon emissions

Urban Land Institute’s Greenprint Center for Building Performance set the target to reduce operational emissions of its members’ collective buildings to net zero by 2050

Added: October 19, 2020 | By: CPI Industry - Content Team

WASHINGTON DC, 19 October 2020: The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance on October 13 declared an additional goal to reduce the operational carbon emissions of its members’ collective buildings to net zero by the year 2050. Eleven ULI Greenprint members have already publicly committed to the target, on top of the 50% carbon reduction goal by 2030 that all ULI Greenprint members have already pledged, ULI said through a Press release.

ULI is a global, multidisciplinary real estate organization, whose work is driven by more than 45,000 members dedicated to providing leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.

ULI said its Greenprint members are dedicated to reducing carbon and increasing energy efficiency in their real estate portfolios as part of their business strategy. To date, members have improved energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas intensity by over 34% and are on track to meet ULI Greenprint’s current goal, it added.

The new net-zero carbon goal is designed to meaningfully reduce the built-environment’s impact on climate change beyond existing efforts, ULI said. It encourages portfolio-wide carbon reductions via deep energy efficiency improvements, on-site renewable energy, green utility power and building electrification, off-site renewables, renewable energy credits and offsets, ULI said. The goal is in line with the Paris Agreement and findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C, ULI said.

“The market has evolved, and so has ULI Greenprint,” said Marta Schantz, Senior Vice President, ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance. “When ULI Greenprint set the original goal back in 2009, it was ambitious and set the industry on the right track to reduce its impact on the environment. Now, we recognize the opportunity for our members to raise the bar with a longer-term net-zero-carbon goal, while continuing to show how these changes can continually add value to their properties.”

ULI said Greenprint will measure members’ progress toward the net-zero-carbon goal by tracking their collective improvements in energy efficiency, purchase of green utility power, and increased investment in on- and off-site renewable energy and offsets. Collective progress will be published in the ULI Greenprint Performance Report each year to publicly showcase advancements towards both goals, it added.

ULI said 11 Greenprint member companies are publicly announcing their alignment with the goal. In total, it added, they represent USD 215 billion in assets under management (AUM), 521 million sq/ft (48.4 million sq/m), and 2,847 properties across 19 countries:

City Developments Limited (CDL), Singapore;
CommonWealth Partners, Los Angeles, California, USA;
Heitman, Chicago, Illinois, USA;
Hudson Pacific Properties, Los Angeles, California, USA;
Jamestown LP, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Kilroy Realty Corporation, Los Angeles, California, USA;
LaSalle Investment Management, Chicago, Illinois, USA;
MultiGreen, Henderson, Nevada, USA;
NEO, Manila, Philippines;
Nuveen Real Estate, London, UK; and
The Tower Companies, Rockville, Maryland USA.