Net Zero
Net Zero
Increasingly, such disasters as storms, wildfires, pandemics, and flooding are spurring cities across the United States to prioritize resiliency. Coastal communities throughout Florida know the urgency firsthand. From the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, many Florida communities were isolated in 2024 when hurricanes and other weather-related events closed roads and cut off power. Our most vulnerable populations took an especially hard hit. Planners, academics, and community members are rethinking how to elevate their response and help communities become more resilient. Could one answer be on four wheels and a chassis?
Governments, businesses, and communities need to collaborate to reduce carbon emissions to ensure that decarbonisation is not just a buzzword.
A new initiative aimed at promoting low-carbon steel in China’s real estate sector has been launched, co-convened by ULI Greenprint, the World Steel Association, and the China Iron and Steel Association. This collaboration unites major real estate developers and steel manufacturers to drive the transition to low-carbon steel production, with the goal of significantly reducing emissions in Mainland China and Hong Kong. China’s steel industry plays a pivotal role in global efforts to combat climate change.
Against the iconic backdrop of Hong Kong’s skyline, a room filled with cross-disciplinary real estate experts engaged in a lively display of unprecedented collaboration. Brightly colored sticky notes plastered across the floor-to-ceiling windows mapped out an intricate web of relationships between developers, tech providers, facility managers, investors, utilities, and more. The pioneering systems change workshop was piloted by ULI APAC Greenprint and aimed to address a critical challenge: how to accelerate climate tech implementations that will lead to long-term sustainability.
According to the second annual C Change Survey, 93 percent of respondents report incorporating transition risks into their real estate investment decisions, indicating the industry’s growing awareness and commitment to integrate climate-related financial risks into decision-making processes.
Given the pressing challenges real estate is facing globally on advancing building decarbonization, ULI is honored to announce that 10 District and National Councils have been selected to participate in the fourth Net Zero Imperative (NZI) Cohort. NZI is a multiyear initiative to accelerate decarbonization in the built environment and is a significant aspect of ULI’s work to advance its net zero mission priority.
Hundreds of events are scheduled September 22-27 for Climate Week NYC 2024, an annual event that drives climate action by those at the very top of business and politics, but also by communities, artists, and activists. This year’s theme: It’s Time. The built environment is a part of the dialogue, as are cross-sector issues like circular economy, water, finance, biodiversity, adaptation, health, environmental justice, policy, and more. With more than 600 events to choose from, it’s easy to assemble a perfect, customized itinerary for the week.
For new construction, owners, developers, and investors can achieve the best low-carbon results by considering both the embodied and operational carbon impacts of their buildings and striking a balance between upfront carbon in materials and long-term efficiency returns, according to a new study by ULI. The report examines the various tradeoffs presented when these two types of carbon are considered in the design of a building’s façade and envelope.
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Seven prominent industry associations have come together to accelerate tackling carbon emissions through carbon pricing
As a growing number of real estate firms commit to decarbonizing their assets, securing green power is becoming an increasingly necessary step for achieving significant carbon reductions. For many owners, the most straightforward and cost-effective route to green power is sourcing directly through local utility providers. However, several barriers have made it difficult for real estate and utilities to collaborate and identify solutions for increasing the amount of green power flowing to the built environment, in ways that mutually benefits utility organizations.
