The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance announced today 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 this target on top of the 50% carbon reduction goal by 2030 that all ULI Greenprint members have already pledged. 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 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.

This new 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 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) repor [2]t to limit global warming to 1.5? C.

“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 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 [3] each year to publicly showcase advancements towards both goals.

Eleven ULI Greenprint member companies are publicly announcing their alignment with the goal. In total, they represent $215 billion in assets under management (AUM), 521 million sq/ft (48.4 million sq/m), and 2847 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.

Current ULI Greenprint members include Allianz Real Estate; AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets; BlackRock; Boston Properties; Brookfield Properties; CalPERS; CenterPoint Properties; City Developments Limited (CDL); Clarion; CommonWealth Partners; Crescent Communities; DWS; FCP; FPA Multifamily; Gerdling Edlen Investment Management; GID; GLL Real Estate Partners; Granite Properties; Grosvenor USA Limited; Heitman; The Howard Hughes Corporation; Hudson Pacific Properties; Jamestown LP; JBG SMITH; Jones Lang LaSalle; Kilroy Realty Corporation; LaSalle Investment Management; LBA Realty, LBA Logistics; LendLease Americas; Morgan Creek Ventures LLC; MultiGreen; Neo Property Management Incorporated; Nuveen Real Estate; Parkway Properties; PGIM Real Estate; Prologis; Rudin Management Company, Inc.; Savanna; SL Green; Tishman Speyer; The Tower Companies; UDR; and Zurich Alternatives Asset Management.

Learn more about the ULI Greenprint Net Zero goal at uli.org/netzerogoal.

About the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance

The ULI Greenprint Center’s mission is to lead the global real estate industry towards improved environmental performance, focusing on energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions. ULI Greenprint is a member-driven organization that achieves its goals through measurement, action and education. Through measurement, benchmarking, knowledge sharing, and the implementation of best practices, ULI Greenprint and its members strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and to achieve net zero carbon operations by 2050. ULI Greenprint is a research center within the ULI Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance, which also oversees ULI’s Urban Resilience Program and the Building Healthy Places initiative. For additional information, visit uli.org/greenprint.

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 46,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.