The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance revealed recently that six new real estate leaders, representing over 1,700 buildings, have announced plans to reduce the operational carbon emissions of their collective portfolio under operational control to net zero by the year 2050. This is on top of the eleven ULI Greenprint members that already publicly aligned with this goal last fall.

The new members publicly aligning with this goal are Allianz Real Estate, Boston Properties (by 2025), Morgan Creek Ventures, PGIM Real Estate, Rudin Management Company and Savanna. Together, these real estate companies represent buildings covering over 391 million square feet and over $300 billion in assets under management (AUM).

“Real estate leadership on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is critical as the industry moves to decarbonize building operations,” says Marta Schantz, senior vice president of the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance. “By addressing the area under operational control with the ULI Greenprint Net Zero goal, these firms are tackling carbon emissions across their portfolios in a deeply meaningful and measurable way.”

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 year over year greenhouse gas emissions by over 34% and are on track to meet ULI Greenprint’s original goal of 50% reduction by 2030 (with a 2009 baseline).

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 across spaces under operational control 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) report to limit global warming to 1.5⁰ C.

In total, 17 companies that are now aligned with the net zero carbon operations goal by 2050 represent over $570 billion in assets under management (AUM), over 709 million sq/ft (65 million sq/m), and over 3,300 properties across 20 countries. Companies that have previously made the commitment include: City Developments Limited (CDL); CommonWealth Partners; Heitman; Hudson Pacific Properties; Jamestown LP; Kilroy Realty Corporation; LaSalle Investment Management; MultiGreen; NEO; Nuveen Real Estate; and The Tower Companies.

Current ULI Greenprint members include ACRE; Allianz; Argosy Real Estate Partners; AXA; BlackRock; Boston Properties; Brookfield Properties; CalPERS; CenterPoint Properties; City Developments Limited; Clarion Partners; CommonWealth Partners; Crescent Communities; DWS; FCP; FPA Multifamily; GID; Goldman Sachs; Granite Properties; Grovesnor Americas; Heitman; The Howard Hughes Corporation; Hudson Pacific Properties; Jamestown Properties; JBG Smith; Kilroy Realty; LaSalle Investment Management; LBA Realty and LBA Logistics; Lendlease Americas; Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets; Morgan Creek Ventures LLC; Multigreen; Nuveen; NEO Property Management Incorporated; Parkway Properties; PGIM Real Estate; Prologis; Rudin Management Company, Inc.; Savanna; Skanska; SL Green; The Green Cities Company; The Tower Companies; Tishman Speyer; and Zurich Alternative Asset Management.