January 12, 2009—In light of the fact that office buildings are responsible for some 17 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., one of the world’s largest commercial real estate firms, is planning to reduce the environmental impact of the thousands of buildings it manages through an agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The agreement, a memorandum of understanding, includes the following goals for Cushman & Wakefield:
- Evaluating opportunities to conserve energy when selecting new corporation office spaces and beginning an energy efficiency pilot program at several offices;
- Decreasing energy consumption at the company’s managed properties, currently more than 3,000 buildings, by 30 percent by 2012;
- Helping building owners conduct energy analyses utilizing EPA’s ENERGY STAR benchmarking tool;
- Encouraging its clients with data centers to participate in EPA’s Data Center Data Collection Initiative to help develop an ENERGY STAR rating for data centers;
- Tracking water usage at properties the company manages using the EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool and promoting the use of water-efficient fixtures and water conservation measures;
- Joining EPA’s WasteWise partnership program, though which the company will conduct an assessment of waste reduction activities, document sustainable purchases, and provide an annual estimate on improvements in waste reduction and recycling at selected properties;
- Joining EPA’s GreenScapes program and encouraging its clients to reuse industrial materials and implement sustainable landscaping practices; and
- Seeking certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or a similar green building rating system for new corporate office space, where feasible.
Cushman & Wakefield will report the progress on its goals to EPA every six months. Based on the reports, EPA will quantify the benefits of the company’s environmental efforts. EPA has similar agreements in place with the New York Mets for the team’s new Citi Field stadium, the Destiny USA mall project in Syracuse, NY, Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ, and St. John’s University in Queens, NY.
For more information on EPA’s voluntary Partnership Programs like the ones incorporated in the Cushman & Wakefield agreement, or for more information on sustainability in the New York metropolitan area, visit the EPA Web site.
