Greenprint Launches Carbon Index

NEW YORK CITY-The Greenprint Foundation has released its first Greenprint Carbon Index, intended to establish a baseline to measure its’ members progress in reducing carbon emissions across their portfolios. It’s based on 2009 operating data from 609 properties totaling 176 million square feet across 36 countries.

“Greenprint’s members are taking meaningful and immediate actions to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon and create value in their portfolios,” says Charles B. Leitner III, the foundation’s CEO, in a release. Their participation in the index represents the commitment to measuring success towards that goal.” He adds that the idea is “to broaden the index’s scope as the foundation expands its membership and members’ participation in the database.”

The foundation, which includes some of the industry’s leading owners, investors and financial institutions, issued a report concurrently with the announcement. Future reports will chart members’ progress in reducing energy usage and carbon emissions “as they seek to enhance their portfolios’ value, implement improved retrofit technologies and respond to increasing government regulation,” the report states.

According to the report, the index quantifies carbon emissions that are produced as a result of building energy use and fugitive emissions from refrigerant leakage. Emissions included in the index are both direct—i.e. generated from the onsite combustion of fuels to generate electricity, heat or steam, and the use of refrigeration and air condition equipment—and indirect. At present, the index doesn’t account for indirect emissions stemming from transportation-related activities, waste generation and energy use within water and sewer facilities.

Founding members of Greenprint include Aetos Capital, AvalonBay, Beacon Capital Partners, Douglas Emmett, GLL Real Estate Partners, Henderson Global Investors, Hines, Jones Lang LaSalle, McArthurGlen Group, Paramount Group, PATRIZIA Immobilien, ProLogis, Prudential Real Estate Investors, RREEF and Sonae Sierra.