Greenprint Index to track property’s green credentials
Among the initiatives launched at last week’s Expo Real trade fair in Germany was the Carbon Index from the Greenprint Foundation, which measures the carbon footprint of 176 million sq ft of property across 36 countries.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s head of Energy and Sustainability Services, Julie Hirigoyen, speaking at the launch, said corporate occupiers were continuing to demand green credentials in buildings and that this was likely to have a negative impact on non-green property. We have already blogged on the growing requirement for measurement of environmental performance, as measured by the recent DTZ/CoreNet Global survey.
The Greenprint Index, compiled by Hirigoyen’s team, sets the baseline for measuring the carbon footprint of the Greenprint portfolio over time. “What is unique about this particular Index is the methodical rigour applied to landlord/tenant considerations, and the way in which this is reflected in reporting boundaries (i.e. Scope 1 to Scope 3 CO2e in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol),” JLL noted.
“As the environmental, social and economic costs of climate change become better defined, and government regulation of carbon emissions expands, property owners and investors around the globe are under more pressure to reduce their carbon footprints,” Hirigoyen said. “Increased government regulation and growing investor and tenant demand for green properties are driving real estate owners to implement cost-effective energy and carbon reduction strategies that simultaneously enhance their properties’ long-term value,” she added.
Greenprint Foundation is a worldwide alliance of leading real estate owners, investors, and financial institutions committed to reducing carbon emissions across the global property industry. It says the index establishes an industry-wide standard that measures, benchmarks and tracks operational energy usage and carbon emission trends.
Greenprint CEO Charles B Leitner III said: “This first Greenprint Carbon Index report establishes a baseline to measure our members’ progress in lowering their portfolios’ carbon emissions.”
“Greenprint’s members are taking meaningful and immediate actions to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon and create value in their portfolios. Their participation in the Index represents the commitment to measuring success towards that goal. Our intent is to broaden the Index’s scope as the Foundation expands its membership and members’ participation in the database.”
