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ULI Greenprint Center Chairman Charles Leitner Recognized By Commercial Property Executive For Achievements In Sustainable Development
February 27, 2012
For more information, contact Trish Riggs at 202-624-7086
WASHINGTON (February 27, 2012) — Charles Leitner, III, chairman of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance, recently received honorable mention recognition in the Sustainability Executive of the Year category of the 2011 Executive of the Year Awards program sponsored by the Commercial Property Executive (CPE) publication.
The recognition from CPE was based on Leitner’s long involvement with sustainable development and his key role in establishing the Greenprint Foundation, a unique industry-led initiative through which leading real estate companies exchange information and measure individual building and portfolio performance on the basis of energy consumption, carbon emissions and several other environmental-related factors. In January, ULI announced the transfer of the activities and assets of the Greenprint Foundation into the newly formed ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance, which will be incorporated into ULI’s broader Climate, Land Use and Energy (CLUE) initiative. The center is carrying on the Greenprint Foundation’s mission, which is to lead the global real estate community in the use of greenhouse gas reduction strategies, with the goal of a 50-percent reduction in building emissions by 2030. Currently, the energy used in buildings represents one-third of all global energy consumption.
Greenprint is a worldwide alliance of real estate owners, investors, financial institutions and other industry stakeholders. To date, the member organizations are: Aetos Capital; AvalonBay; Beacon Capital Partners; Blackstone Group; DEXUS Property Group; Douglas Emmett; Equity Office Properties; GE Capital Real Estate; GLL Real Estate Partners; Hines; Jones Lang LaSalle; LaSalle Investment Management; Paramount Group; PATRIZIA Immobilien; Prologis; Prudential Real Estate Investors; RREEF, a member of the Deutsche Bank Group; Sonae Sierra; and TIAA-CREF.
“The ULI Greenprint Center will continue the momentum started by the Greenprint Foundation,” Leitner said. “I see the center’s work as becoming the global real estate industry’s diary of its efforts to dramatically lower the impact of buildings on the environment. We will continue to promote increased awareness of innovative technologies and best operating practices to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. Through this center, ULI can help position the land use and real estate industry as part of the solution to climate change.”
The flagship product of the Greenprint Foundation is its Greenprint Performance Report™, which includes the Greenprint Carbon Index™ (GCX), a tool used by Greenprint Foundation members to gauge relative progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over time. The first volume of the report, issued in 2010, contained results obtained from performance during 2009 as a baseline measurement. The second volume, issued in 2011, had results for 2010 that included 1,623 properties in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and which covered a total of 31 million square meters of commercial space. It showed a 0.6 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the previous year on the like-for-like portfolio of submitted properties. The international scope and size of the report, including the GCX, make it one of the real estate industry’s largest, most verifiable, transparent and comprehensive energy benchmarking tools. It is unique in that it provides an open standard for measuring, benchmarking and tracking energy usage and resulting emissions on a building or portfolio basis. The third volume is expected to be released in the summer of 2012.
About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (uli.org) 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 nearly 30,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.