Key Program Components  

The 5-year program started in July 2021 and includes the following key components: 

• Leveraging a 2-day technical assistance event in each city to help the public and private sector develop a “pathway to decarbonization”
• Running long-term on-the-ground campaigns in global cities to accelerate decarbonization of the built environment
• Building a global cohort who can receive ongoing technical assistance to refine on the ground campaigns, and work together to share best practices and lessons learned
• Creating global resources (research, toolkits, and other tools) to help all ULI members accelerate decarbonization in their real estate operations (and in their cities)

2025 Global Cohort In-Person Gatherings

NZI participants will also have an opportunity to gather in-person at an off-site location (dates below) during ULI’s Spring and Fall Meetings — Spring Meeting 2025 in Denver, CO – May 12-14 and Fall Meeting 2025 in San Francisco, CA – November 4-6.

Cohort Four

• ULI Atlanta. ULI Atlanta will coordinate one industry workshop (or more) that will bring together experts with experience in jurisdictions, that have implemented embodied carbon policies, as well as people knowledgeable about Atlanta’s zoning policies. This panel will include professionals involved in policy development, city officials responsible for enforcement, developers/architects/contractors who will be affected by new embodied carbon zoning codes, and consultants specializing in embodied carbon analysis and reporting. The industry workshop will result in recommendations for how Livable Buckhead should adapt zoning codes and how to support the development community in the process.
• ULI Chicago. ULI Chicago will help fund the development of case studies of two multifamily decarbonization retrofit pilot projects being funded by the city of Chicago. The case studies will document the work done to help encourage and guide future retrofit projects. The case studies are expected to include a summary of the design and construction choices, costs, pre- and post-retrofit energy consumption and carbon emissions, and tenant quality-of-life impacts. Slipstream will be responsible for data evaluation; ULI Chicago will collaborate with the city of Chicago and Illinois Green Alliance to craft the case study document based on Slipstream’s work.
• ULI Germany (Berlin). ULI Germany will build upon previous NZI technical assistance efforts to (1) develop a business case for financing retrofits in the affordable housing project by applying lessons from Buckower Höfe, (2) identify a taskforce of local stakeholders and ULI members to drive decarbonization efforts forward, and (3) produce a case study outlining the business case, potential financing mechanisms, and implementation roadmap for neighborhood-scale retrofits.
• ULI Hong Kong. Continuing from previous NZI technical assistance efforts on landlord and tenant engagement, the NZI implementation grant will be used to spark new discussions in Hong Kong on sustainable fit-outs—a topic that is not covered much in the city. ULI Hong Kong will leverage ULI’s multidisciplinary member base to unite various stakeholders (tenants, competing developers, technical consultants) to agree on best practices. The NZI grant will be used to create an event that will focus on the needs of different segments of tenants (e.g., office, food and beverage), as each segment has different needs, as well as determining how fit-outs will vary according to segment, and what the benefits (both environmental and economic) of sustainable fit-outs will be.
• ULI New York. Work will commence with New York City to put together a technical assistance event to identify Local Law 97–compliance pathways that can enable large multifamily affordable and middle-income building owners to reach net zero by 2050 by considering how funding and financing programs can be designed to meet those owners’ unique needs, technical solutions to upgrade existing building conditions and implement zero-carbon building systems, and legal mechanisms so that these investments are compliant with New York housing laws and rules.
• ULI Northwest (Portland). The technical assistance efforts will explore and facilitate the adoption of grid-interactive efficient building (GEB) solutions in the Northwest region of the United States by fostering collaboration between commercial real estate stakeholders and local utilities to enhance energy decarbonization, resilience, and overall grid stability. The goal of this TAP will be to provide Northwest utilities and commercial real estate communities with actionable guidance on increased adoption of grid-interactive building solutions to reduce carbon emissions for the built environment and improve grid/community resilience for the region.
• ULI Philadelphia. ULI Philadelphia will work with that city’s Division of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC) to convene a series of workshops. These gatherings will bring together regional and national peer experts in the affordable housing sector, housing development corporations, and private sector development professionals to discuss best practices and lessons learned in retrofitting existing affordable multifamily housing stock nearing the end of its subsidy term to preserve affordability and become carbon neutral. In partnership with DHCD, PHDC will host administrators from peer cities who have faced and overcome similar challenges in managing their portfolio of multihousing projects and how to structure local financing products that leverage IRA funds for multifamily decarbonization.
• ULI Sacramento. Grand Gathering is a transformative development located in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of Sacramento. This project will revitalize a struggling corridor through the development of a dynamic outdoor gathering space and a rehabilitated commercial building, designed to foster community engagement, education, and business incubation, and to lead by example through implementing net zero strategies. This project aims to study net zero strategies with a focus on environmental and restorative justice to build resilience for the surrounding community. As an emerging business hub and gathering space, incorporating natural cooling strategies and self-sufficient energy systems here will promote environmental justice by fostering autonomy for individuals and the community.
• ULI Spain (Madrid). Partnering with the city of Madrid and local real estate stakeholders, ULI Spain will study a determined and specific area of the city that could be used as a general pilot for implementing net zero strategy measures, to address specific net zero challenges. They include (1) developing a neighborhood-scale strategy for deep-energy retrofits, focusing on both residential and commercial buildings; (2) creating innovative financing mechanisms to support building owners in implementing decarbonization measures; (3) engaging with key stakeholders, including property owners, tenants, and local authorities, in a collaborative approach to neighborhood decarbonization; (4) identifying opportunities to unlock, maximize, and share environmental, social, and economic value across all stakeholders through integrated, place-based retrofit strategies; and (5) developing scalable solutions that can be applied to other neighborhoods and cities, addressing the challenges of asset stranding and ensuring a just transition.
• ULI Washington (D.C.). This project would partner with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to generate design guidelines, developer-facing incentives, and government-facing priorities for net zero buildings within WMATA’s Joint Development Program, using one specific site near the Fort Totten station as the model for implementation that could then be extrapolated and applied to future Joint Development sites during the RFP solicitation and developer selection process.

Cohort Three

• ULI Australia (Melbourne, Australia). The goal of the effort is to develop a precinct scale decarbonization model, with measurable outcomes, that can be replicated across the City of Melbourne and Australia more broadly to build critical mass towards pilot and action. Development of this prototype for a zero-carbon precinct will enable a pilot of the Retrofit Melbourne Plan Initiative. The effort also seeks to identify additional precinct activations and future–proofing opportunities that can occur in parallel with precinct decarbonization, such as infrastructure upgrades, accessibility, economic development, artwork, biodiversity, and microclimate improvement.
• ULI British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). Decarbonizing older below-market buildings is key to an electrified, equitable, and stable housing market. ULI British Columbia is collaborating with building owners to understand how to track life-cycle embodied carbon in retrofitting key affordable housing stock. They will also investigate how to meet emerging public-policy initiatives relating to carbon reduction and climate change. Stakeholders from non-profits, private companies, and the public sector will be brought together to consider the future of housing and embodied carbon.
• ULI Germany (Berlin, Germany). Engage through the second phase of a two-phase project as part of the ULI Europe C Change program. In the first stage, the focus was on identifying assets in Berlin that could potentially be stranded, based on a common methodology developed by the ULI C Change program that assesses transition risks as part of real estate valuations. In the second phase, the aim is to identify potential solutions to decarbonize these buildings in close collaboration between all stakeholders including the private and public sector.

• ULI East China (Shanghai, China). The local industry in general lacks reliable data on embodied carbon counts for building materials, and also, the industry as a whole has limited understanding of how to implement embodied carbon estimation for new development and remodeling projects. The ULI East China’s NZI program will bring together important stakeholder groups including developers, building material manufacturers, construction companies, and service providers and identify areas where improvements are needed to enhance transparency, reliability, and efficiency of embodied carbon estimation. The intention is to promote best practices for reducing embodied carbon through improved building design, increasing awareness of embodied carbon among building material manufacturers and real estate development professionals, and substitution of high embodied carbon building materials with low embodied carbon materials, where feasible.
• ULI Los Angeles. Building upon two of the main recommendations from ULI-LA’s initial NZI TAP, which were to: explore opportunities to connect “satellite” district cooling plants to the existing Bunker Hill Plant; and, to bring down costs by piggybacking on existing subterranean infrastructure projects. The project team will explore both recommendations, engaging with LA METRO and stakeholders from DTLA’s Little Tokyo community to explore the feasibility of developing a district cooling plant that would serve Little Tokyo and utilize METRO subway tunnels to route piping to additional areas.

• ULI Greater Bay Area (Shenzhen, China). The project aims to promote the Shenzhen Net Zero Imperative TAP report and enhance sustainable community development in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) by extending the influence of ULI NZI. This will be achieved through activities such as decarbonization tech tours, ESG tech roundtables, and showcases to empower the decarbonization tech ecosystem, connect stakeholders, and attract tech firms to the GBA. These initiatives are planned for the next 12 months in response to China’s “dual carbon target” and its impact on the urban development industry.

Cohort Two

• ULI Atlanta (Atlanta metro area, GA).  Conduct 5-6 different net zero-themed mTAPs as capstone projects for ULI Atlanta’s Center for Leadership (CFL) program. The CFL participants will partner with 5-6 different public sector sponsors to assist in accelerating different aspects of building decarbonization efforts across the Atlanta region.
• ULI Charlotte (Charlotte, NC). In partnership with a private developer, Crescent Communities, the City of Charlotte will establish a development incentive program using the River District as a pilot to create a net zero road map for development and construction.
• ULI Chicago (Chicagoland metro area, IL). Build resilience from climate change impacts and strengthen the Chicago region as a climate refuge by leveraging current strategies and proposing bold new measures to create a net zero future that includes residents, municipalities, and the real estate industry.
• ULI Germany (Berlin, Germany). Engage through a two-phase project as part of the ULI Europe C Change program. In the first stage, the focus is on identifying assets in Berlin that could potentially be stranded, based on a common methodology developed by the ULI C Change program that assesses transition risks as part of real estate valuations. In the second phase, the aim is to identify potential solutions to decarbonize these buildings in close collaboration between all stakeholders including the private and public sector.
• ULI Hong Kong (Central, Hong Kong). Create a toolkit focused on tenant engagement in high density central business districts that will draw on existing strengths and address areas of growth that will aid in major reduction in carbon emissions for owners and their tenants.
• ULI Mexico (Monterrey, Mexico). Engage the public and private sectors in the creation of a city-wide roadmap to net zero. Result in actionable recommendations of potential incentives, education, or code amendments to achieve energy-efficient, net zero carbon buildings.
• ULI Minnesota (Root District, Minneapolis, MN). Build upon existing ULI NZI efforts to bring the public and private sector together to refine the current draft of the Equitable Framework Guide for developing a 115-acre site into a transit-oriented, net zero district. Develop long-term communication campaign to accelerate incorporation of district energy and develop a plan that can scale for infrastructure, master planning, and individual developments of similar types.

Cohort One

• ULI Austin (Austin, TX). – Increase the local real estate sector’s awareness and buy-in of electrification, energy efficiency, and on-site renewable energy in commercial and multifamily buildings, in line with net zero initiatives in the City’s Climate Equity Plan. Result in actionable recommendations for potential incentives, education, or code amendments to achieve energy-efficient, net zero carbon buildings.
• ULI Beijing (Beijing, Mainland China).– Develop a roadmap to net zero economic, environmental and social development in China. Explore deep energy efficiency by piloting solutions in a Beijing mixed-use site to build upon current sustainability efforts to reduce operational costs and increase economic savings. Further address climate via adaptation planning with nature-based stormwater management solutions in a trial district that could scale country-wide.
• ULI Kansas City (Kansas City Region, KS).– Advocate for a net zero economy by (1) identifying best practices for a regional Energy Efficiency Investment Fund to provide lending tools for the real estate sector to invest in energy efficiency improvements, and (2) maximizing community impact through building decarbonization improvements to achieve high-performance affordable housing that address the energy burden in low-to-medium income markets.
• ULI Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA). Identify both technical and market strategies to decarbonize the Bunker Hill neighborhood with a district energy system across assets with multiple private owners. Serve as a scalable and replicable roadmap for cross-sector collaboration to harness the power of energy efficiency and grid integration on a community-level scale.
• ULI Minnesota (Root District, Minneapolis, MN). – Develop a framework for policymaking and development strategies to evaluate climate impacts and drive net zero in the equitable redevelopment of a 115-acre district. Promote district energy, set clear and measurable targets on net zero, and develop a plan that can scale for infrastructure, master planning, and individual developments of similar types.
• ULI San Francisco (San Jose, CA). – Build upon existing ULI efforts to bring the public and private sector together to unlock the benefits of building electrification and the integration of renewable energy generation and storage in both market rate multifamily and affordable housing assets to meet decarbonization goals, increase the financial viability of projects, and improve social equity outcomes.
• ULI Shenzhen (Greater Bay Area, Mainland China).– Explore how Shenzhen can incentivize the private sector to integrate new and innovative technology into both new and existing buildings, to decarbonize while still sustaining profitability. Use as a demonstration city to showcase to the Greater Bay Area how advancing community change can influence positive outcomes toward a lower carbon city.
• ULI Toronto (Brampton and Greater Toronto, ON). – Build upon existing ULI efforts to support the city of Toronto in encouraging retrofits of aging privately owned multifamily rental towers to reduce their carbon emissions and be resilient to climate risks while maintaining affordability. Develop long-term communication campaign to accelerate the decarbonization of the multifamily towers in line with the city’s new net zero existing building strategy.

Cohort 5 Applications opened on May 1 and are due July 31, 2025! 

The ULI Net Zero Imperative accepts applications annually from ULI’s global network of District and National/Local Councils (Europe and Asia Pacific) in partnership with local governments, real estate leaders, and community stakeholder groups. Applications must investigate decarbonization in the built environment.

Schedule an information session with us, send questions, or send completed statement of interest applications to [email protected]. You can find the application templates below:

• Technical Assistance Grants
• Implementation Grants

Schedule an information session with us or send completed statement of interest applications to [email protected].

Timeline and Key Dates

Applications for Cohort 5 officially:

• Open on May 1, 2025
• Due by July 31, 2025

The statement of interest for the technical assistance grants can be accessed here and the statement of interest for implementation grants can be accessed here. We only accept applications from ULI’s global network of District and National/Local Councils (Europe and Asia Pacific) in partnership with local governments, real estate leaders, and community stakeholder groups. Please send completed statement of interest applications to [email protected].

Application & Selection Timeline

Still have questions? Schedule a call with us to learn more by reaching out to [email protected]!

ULI has created many NZI-Inspired Resources. Learn more about them below: