C40 and ULI Will Connect Public Officials with Real Estate Owners and Investors to Foster Energy Efficiency in City Buildings

Media Contacts:
C40 – Mike Marinello
ULI – James Hacking, +852 2967 8982

SHANGHAI (June 5, 2013) — The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) today announced a global partnership to advance investments related to energy conservation and carbon emission reduction in existing buildings in cities around the world. The partnership agreement was signed today at ULI’s annual Asia-Pacific Real Estate Summit in Shanghai.

In partnership, the organizations will forge better connections between public sector officials and private building owners in C40 cities that are actively engaged in reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions of buildings. C40 research has revealed that, on average, 45 per cent of total city-wide emissions are from energy consumed in buildings, approximately two-thirds of which from private buildings. By supporting city officials to more effectively engage private property owners, the C40-ULI partnership will greatly impact the ability of cities to meet their energy conservation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals.

The partnership will specifically leverage the knowledge and networks represented by ULI and ULI’s Greenprint Center for Building Performance, a dedicated research initiative that provides real estate owners and investors with benchmarking tools to evaluate a building’s environmental performance, including energy consumption, carbon emissions, water usage, and waste diversion. Between 2011 and 2012, buildings in the portfolios of Greenprint members showed a 4.4-percent reduction in energy use and an 8.2-percent reduction in carbon emissions.

“By leveraging the global networks of ULI with those of C40, we can advance the peer-to-peer learning that is necessary to build consensus for investments in better building performance,” said ULI Chief Executive Officer Patrick L. Phillips. “This partnership is an exciting opportunity to build on ULI’s work involving environmentally conscious and energy efficient development.”

“Energy consumption in private buildings represents one of the single largest sectors of emissions in most C40 Cities. Developing partnerships that support the efforts of city officials in C40 Cities to better understand data challenges and engage with local energy consumers is vitally important to achieving the ultimate goal of lowering total emissions from this sector,” said Terri Wills, Director, C40 Global Initiatives.

ABOUT C40
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a network of large and engaged cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate related actions locally that will help address climate change globally. C40 was established in 2005 and expanded via a partnership in 2006 with President William J. Clinton’s Climate Initiative (CCI). The current chair of the C40 is New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. To learn more about the work of C40 and our Cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has nearly 30,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

About the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance
The ULI Greenprint Center’s mission is to lead the global real estate industry towards improved environmental performance, focusing on energy consumption, carbon emissions, water usage, and waste diversion. Greenprint is a member-driven organization that achieves its goals through measurement, action and education. The Greenprint Foundation, founded in 2009, was acquired by ULI in 2012 to form the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance.

Greenprint’s flagship product is the Greenprint Performance Report™. The international scope and size of the report makes it one of the real estate industry’s largest, most transparent and comprehensive environmental benchmark. The report is a consolidated view of participating properties, detailing their energy, water and waste performance by geography and asset class. For additional information, visit www.uli.org/greenprint.