CBRE makes net-zero carbon pledge for 2040
CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, has promised to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
The Dallas-based firm’s commitment includes emissions from its own operations and the properties it manages for investors and occupiers, as well as indirect supply chain emissions.
CBRE’s own operational footprint is massive on its own, with more than 100,000 employees serving clients in over 100 countries. However, the company also manages more than 2.7 billion square feet of property globally, significantly expanding the scale of its carbon reduction challenge. As such, the 2040 target is a decade further off than the 2030 target of major consultancies – including the Big Four accountancies and the Big Three strategy firms – which have a narrower focus on their own offices and consultant travel.
Net-zero entails reducing emissions (through, for example, building efficiency and energy sourced from renewables) combined with investment in projects that remove the remaining carbon dioxide produced by a firm’s operations – including forests, farms, and carbon capture and mineralization technologies.
“As the world’s largest manager of commercial real estate, we have a special obligation to help the world address the many challenges posed by the warming planet,” said Bob Sulentic, CBRE’s president and chief executive officer. “CBRE is deeply committed to doing our part and to working with our clients and across our vast global supply chain to help achieve net zero emissions as quickly as possible. This is an essential element of our commitment to the communities in which we operate.”
As part of its net-zero strategy, CBRE has signed on to The Climate Pledge, a group of companies and organizations led by Amazon and Global Optimism that have committed to achieving net-zero carbon 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement deadline.
The firm – which offers services across property management, property sales and leasing, and strategic consulting – has consistently received accolades for its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs. CBRE has for the last eight years claimed a spot on the FTSE4Good Index – a series of ethical investment stock market indices. The firm is also ranked #22 on the 2021 Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list, which ranks US public companies on sustainability factors such as human rights in the supply chain, greenhouse gas emissions, business ethics, product safety, and labor relations.