The ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance revealed in October that eight new real estate leaders, representing over 2,400 buildings, have announced plans to reduce the operational carbon emissions of their collective portfolio under operational control to net zero by the year 2050. This is on top of the seventeen ULI Greenprint members that already publicly aligned with this goal so far.
The new Greenprint members publicly aligning with this goal are AEW Capital Management, Brookfield Properties, CP Group, Clarion Partners, Lendlease (by 2025), SL Green Realty Corp., Tishman Speyer, and WashREIT. Together, these real estate companies represent buildings covering over 849 million square feet and over $397 billion in assets under management (AUM).
“It is tremendous to see such firms align to the ULI Greenprint net zero carbon operations by 2050 goal. I commend these real estate titans for their leadership,” says Marta Schantz, senior vice president of the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance. “This commitment shows a pragmatic understanding of the industry’s responsibility and opportunity to combat climate change across their portfolios and work toward a carbon neutral future.”
ULI Greenprint real estate 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 year over year greenhouse gas emissions by over 46 percent and are on track to meet ULI Greenprint’s original goal of 50 percent reduction by 2030 (with a 2009 baseline).
This net zero carbon goal is designed to meaningfully reduce the built environment’s impact on climate change beyond existing efforts. It encourages portfolio-wide carbon reductions across spaces under operational control via deep energy efficiency improvements, on-site renewable energy, green utility power and building electrification, off-site renewables, renewable energy credits and offsets. The goal is in line with the Paris Agreement and findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report to limit global warming.
In total, 25 companies–half of all ULI Greenprint real estate members–that are now aligned with the net zero carbon goal by 2050 represent over $917 billion in assets under management (AUM), over 1.7 billion sq/ft (161 million sq/m), and over 6,700 properties across 20 countries. Companies that have previously made the commitment include: Allianz Real Estate, Boston Properties (by 2025), City Developments Limited (CDL); CommonWealth Partners; Heitman; Hudson Pacific Properties (by 2025); Jamestown LP; Kilroy Realty Corporation (by 2020); LaSalle Investment Management; Morgan Creek Ventures, MultiGreen; NEO; Nuveen Real Estate; PGIM Real Estate, Rudin Management Company, Savanna, and The Tower Companies.
Current ULI Greenprint members include ACRE; AEW Capital Management; Allianz Real Estate; Argosy Real Estate Partners; AXA; BlackRock; Boston Properties; Brookfield Properties; CalPERS; CenterPoint Properties; City Developments Limited; Clarion Partners; CommonWealth Partners; CP Group; Crescent Communities; DWS; FCP; FPA Multifamily; GID; Goldman Sachs; Granite Properties; Grovesnor Americas; Heitman; The Howard Hughes Corporation; Hudson Pacific Properties; James Campbell Company; Jamestown Properties; JBG Smith; Kilroy Realty; LaSalle Investment Management; LBA Realty and LBA Logistics; Lendlease Americas; Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets; Morgan Creek Ventures LLC; Multigreen; Nuveen Real Estate; NEO Property Management Incorporated; Pembroke; Parkway Properties; PGIM Real Estate; Prologis; Rudin Management Company, Inc.; Savanna; Skanska; SL Green Realty Corp; Street-Works Development; The Green Cities Company; The Tower Companies; Tishman Speyer; WashREIT; and Zurich Alternative Asset Management.
More details on the ULI Net Zero Goal can be found at uli.org/netzerogoal.
