November 14, 2007—GE Real Estate has announced a new initiative to green its real estate investment business, a global business that generates more than $30 billion in annual transaction volume across 28 countries.
Sustainability will be embedded into its existing investment processes, from origination of investments to underwriting, due diligence and asset management in an effort to improve the environmental performance of assets, to positively impact the health of tenants, and to improve the value of the properties, says the company.
The announcement was made at the Greenbuild conference in Chicago, the world’s largest gathering dedicated to green building. GE Real Estate also unveiled its new partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). The partnership will allow GE Real Estate to access the elements of the CCI program as appropriate to improve the environmental performance of its properties.
CCI, launched in August 2006, is working with major cities and members of the business community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in large urban areas. GE Real Estate’s partnership with CCI was announced by President Bill Clinton, the keynote speaker at the Greenbuild conference.
GE Real Estate’s overall commitment will include the following:
- Evaluation of acquired properties for financially attractive environmental improvement retrofits using energy and environmental audits;
- Energy and environmental metrics on assets will be tracked, just as financial performance is tracked;
- USGBC’s LEED rating system and international equivalents will be used as a framework to benchmark GE Real Estate’s portfolio;
- Learnings and best practices will be shared with GE Real Estate’s customers and business partners to help extend the impact to the owners of the properties the company finances—a $30 billion lending portfolio supporting some 11,000 buildings globally;
- Engaging partners, customers and vendors across its global network of more than 5,000 relationships on green issues.
The program will build on GE Real Estate’s existing work in the green movement. For more information, see the Web site.
