Bosses from some of the world's largest real estate firms have pledged to reduce their emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and deliver net zero emissions by 2050.
Chief executives from JLL, Avison Young and Ivanhoé Cambridge are among those who pledged last week to halve buildings-related emissions across their businesses ahead of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland.
The companies said that they will meet their emissions targets by implementing the World Economic Forum's "Green Buildings Principles." Released last year, the principles provide a series of guidelines for companies to follow in order to deliver net zero emissions across their real estate portfolios.
The action plan features a number of targets for real estate bosses and landlords, including calculating the carbon footprint of their portfolios to inform their targets, measuring embodied carbon emissions and maximizing emissions reductions from all new developments and major refurbishments through the deployment of the latest clean technologies and the adoption of on-site renewables.
By nature, real estate requires long-term thinking and so we have a duty to invest with conviction and build a legacy for future generations.
The Green Buildings Principles also advise property owners and investors to engage with stakeholders in their value chains to reduce Scope 3 value chain emissions, ensure that all of the off-site energy they use comes from renewable sources, and compensate for any residual emissions by buying high-quality carbon offsets.
"It's imperative that we address real estate-related emissions," said Christian Ulbrich, global chief executive officer and president at JLL. "Getting started is often the hardest part and the principles offer a simple set of steps to do so. We believe it is easier to get to net zero in the built environment than for many companies to get to net zero in their core businesses and the business case is there to support action."
Nathalie Palladitcheff, president and chief executive officer at Ivanhoé Cambridge, said: "By nature, real estate requires long-term thinking and so we have a duty to invest with conviction and build a legacy for future generations. We have a collective opportunity and responsibility to decarbonize the built environment and this ambitious commitment will require a transformation of practices across the whole real estate value chain."
Other companies which have also signed up for the net zero 2050 pledge include Edge, GPFI Group, Majid Al Futtaim Properties, Schneider Electric and Signify.
