As global momentum builds for climate action, federal, state, and local governments have introduced building-sector requirements covering everything from energy and water use to green building certifications to climate resilience. The real estate industry is addressing the climate crisis through actions like selecting lower-carbon materials, setting portfolio-wide net zero targets, and increasing procurement of renewable energy. However, ESG teams are spending more of their time on compliance and reporting as regulations expand, which reduces their capacity for implementing projects and reducing carbon.
ULI is proud to announce that we have joined MEP 2040 as a supporting organization. MEP 2040 is a movement to radically reduce total carbon emissions associated with Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) systems through collective action. “The embodied carbon associated with MEP systems is a burgeoning topic in real estate ESG. ULI is proud to support MEP2040 in its efforts to radically reduce total carbon emissions associated with building systems. We applaud the work of MEP engineering and design firms who have made the MEP2040 commitment and urge the broader industry to join the movement and advance real estate’s journey to net zero,” said Marta Schantz, co-executive director of ULI’s Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate.
Each year since 2009, ULI Greenprint members have reported their asset-level operational energy, water, waste, and carbon performance data to be included in the State of Greenreport. For the first time this year, ULI Greenprint piloted the voluntary submission of embodied carbon data from recent development projects to State of Green, Volume 14. This data is an important step in encouraging real estate to measure and reduce its embodied carbon emissions as the industry progresses toward net zero.
When it comes to reducing embodied carbon emissions in the real estate sector, developers can’t do it on their own: they must partner with outside stakeholders to influence elements over which they don’t have direct control, including supply chain materials manufacturers.
Owned by HopeWorks and Housing Hope, this mixed-use retail and multifamily housing development provides comprehensive housing, social services, and job re-entry services for low-income, unhoused, and veteran populations.
The first ULI Executive Convening on Embodied Carbon—held on January 17th at ULI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and hosted by ULI’s Decarbonization Program—launched the first of many convenings to build stronger partnerships across the industry enabling accelerated advancement on sustainability improvements and beyond.
Entegrity Energy Partners—an energy services, sustainability, and solar development company—developed a net zero commercial office space for company use, along with 28 market-rate apartments in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas.
