Nareit will be participating in the inaugural Net Zero Buildings Week, organized by New Buildings Institute, which takes place March 29-April 2, 2021. Net Zero projects are buildings that consume as much energy as can be produced onsite over the course of a year. This is done through a combination of energy efficiency efforts and renewable energy generation. Achieving zero energy is an ambitious goal, yet it is gaining momentum as a result of advances in building envelope, energy systems and renewable energy technology, and available resources and tools.
Nareit is participating in Net Zero Buildings Week to provide its members access to conversations and content about net zero efforts related to a variety of built environment industries. Some of the resources address what Net Zero is, why it's important, and the steps companies and buildings are taking to define their efforts and make progress.
Nareit seeks to actively encourage the development and adoption of effective environmental, social, and governance practices in real estate through its ESG knowledge-sharing and capacity-building initiatives, including the recently released fourth annual REIT ESG Dashboard.
The dashboard tracks ESG key performance indicators in the U.S. REIT industry, tracking publicly reported data from 2016 through 2019 as reported in 2017 through 2020, respectively, for the 100 largest U.S. equity REITs by equity market cap each year.
REITs have made meaningful progress in disclosing carbon emissions, with 66% of REIT assets disclosing carbon emissions in 2020, up from 38% in 2017.
In the 2020 REIT ESG Report, several REITs from a variety of sectors were featured for their environmental initiatives, nearly all of which acknowledged commitments to carbon emissions reductions.
If you have any questions about REITs and sustainability, or are seeking additional ESG resources from Nareit, contact me at fkocak@nareit.com.
Sign up here to receive ESG-related updates from Nareit. Visit the Net Zero Buildings Week website for more information, or check out NBI’s tools and guides on Zero Energy here.