SUSTAINABILITY · PROFILES
Rays of Green Light
Compiled by Tara Anderson
Sustainability. Green building. Responsibility. These are words that are reverberating throughout the U.S. REIT and publicly traded real estate industry, marking the beginning of a new era. Many companies have taken the initiative to change the way they do business in order to minimize carbon footprints and reduce energy usage. REITs, specifically, seem to have a calling to engage in responsible environmental practices, based on the quantity of resources they utilize and the amount of land they own.
In fact, with the dawning of this green movement, NAREIT has recognized the importance of sustainability and applauds those companies that have embraced responsible business practices. Several member companies have made particular strides to incorporate new programs into their business models.
LEED Certification
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a building certification program run under the auspices of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It encourages global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. LEED concentrates its efforts on improving performance across five key areas of environmental and human health: energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials selection, sustainable site development and water savings. There are four levels of certification: LEED (basic certification), Silver, Gold and Platinum. Source: USGBC
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"In recent years, we're very proud that more REITs have taken on a leadership role as it relates to sustainability," says NAREIT's executive vice-president, finance and operations, Sheldon Groner. "We feel that it's very important to be at the forefront of this issue, and to recognize member companies that have demonstrated superior and sustained energy use practices."
In that spirit, NAREIT, in collaboration with Energy-StarŪ, introduced the Leader in the Light award. The award, first presented in 2005, recognizes member companies with exemplary sustainability programs.
"The Leader in the Light award pays tribute to the innovative work our member companies are doing in this area. We commend award recipients for their leadership role and for helping to set new standards for sustainable development in commercial real estate," Groner says.
In that vein, Portfolio highlights a sample of member companies that exhibit leadership and have taken major strides in sustainability. The story of these 14 REITs—AMB Property Corporation (NYSE: AMB), British Land Company Plc (LSE: BLND), Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC), Duke Realty Corp. (NYSE: DRE), Forest City Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: FCE.A), Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LRY), Macerich (NYSE: MAC), Macquarie Office Trust (ASX: MOF), Parkway Properties (NYSE: PKY), ProLogis (NYSE: PLD), Regency Centers Corp. (NYSE: REG), Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG), UDR, Inc. (NYSE: UDR), Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO)—illustrates how sustainability can produce improvement in resources and energy efficiency, as well as increase property value and customer satisfaction.
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