Establishing your carbon footprint - part 2
Issue 30 - May 07

This, the second part in our “establishing your carbon footprint” series,
looks at how FMs can raise their profi le, reduce costs and establish the
impact of their company as the global warming discourse heats up.

Wasn’t it just last year that real estate and facility managers were complaining that they were invisible within their companies? Now with record rents and
the threat of global warming managing real estate just became very important.

A real commitment to minimising emissions requires first establishing the origin of your company’s largest carbon emissions. In this regard, Sarah Liao, Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works HK SAR, says that international companies should be leading the way, but often they have a different policy in Asia than in their home markets. As an example, Liao cites one company that will only accept water based paint in its US factories but for a unit cost saving of US$0.40c will accept the use of solvent based paints for production in Asia. Most
companies implement environmentally focused plans in their home markets where PR mileage is better. However, negative publicity for even small environmental indiscretions as DuPont, Nestle and others, can have a
large impact on public perception, as these companies discovered when they found themselves black-listed on a website run by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Before beginning the site selection process, companies may turn to one of the many bodies disseminating information or advice about what you can do to both measure and manage your carbon footprint. While in Asia, many companies are tied into leases that do not allow for effective control over their offi ce energy sources or waste disposal, reducing energy consumption and waste en bloc can go part of the way. The British Council for Offices Guide “recognises the signifi cance of emissions from offi ce buildings, not just in terms of the occupation, heating and cooling of space, but also those emissions produced from
the construction and transport used by occupiers travelling to work.” Therefore when selecting a site be aware of the potential environmental toll of any fl eet services and subsequent renovations or construction on site, not just the ongoing management of the building.



Resources exist to help real estate managers establish risk factors, such as the World Resources Institute (WRI) guide titled Hot Climate, Cool Commerce: A Service Sector Guide to Greenhouse Gas Management. “If you’re a building or operations manager at a bank, an insurance company or a retail chain, this guide lays out steps to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and implement solutions,” said Samantha Putt del Pino, who co-authored the guide with WRI’s Ryan Levinson and John Larsen. Case studies in the report detail how service-sector companies have put programs in place to measure and manage their emissions and achieve energy savings. Among the companies profi led
are Citigroup, General Electric, IKEA and Staples. According to sources GE required landlords to give full accounts of their environmental credentials.

According to building services engineer Allan Cross, Partner, Troup Bywaters + Anders, the Econ19 gives typical usage of an offi ce building for different types of offices separated into four different usage types. As a rule of thumb, he recommends that the average should be reduced by 20 percent for companies wishing to operate in an energy effi cient way. He goes on to say, however, that his estimates are for the London area so would need to be adjusted for different geographical locations.

industry specific
Each company will have a different focus depending on its industry and the types of facilities it requires. At Japan Airlines, fuel used in its aircraft factors far higher than emissions from its offi ce building. For most industrial companies, their plants are the biggest greenhouse gas emitters. BlueScope Steel supports the Asia-Pacifi c Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6) and the International Iron and Steel Institute’s CO2 Breakthrough Project. These programs are aimed at developing new technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the global steel making industry. BlueScope has signed an agreement to commence feasibility studies on a co-generation plant that could cut greenhouse gas emissions by recycling waste gases from steelmaking for use in
electricity production. Being Australian, water shortages are a major concern for many of the communities in which BlueScope operates, so water conservation and recycling have become its environmental focus.

In China, the government is targeting specifi c sectors, such as steel, in order to reduce the countries overall emissions. According to Xinhua Newswire, in 2007, the government plans to close small power generating units of 10 mil
kilowatts and eliminate outmoded production capacity of 30 mil tons of iron and 35 mil tons of steel. As the country consumes 15 percent of the world’s energy to
produce 5.5 percent of global gross domestic product, a greater focus on promoting service industries is a national goal.

Marks and Spenser in Britain provides another example. As a retailer it has recently announced a plan, dubbed Plan A (“because there is no plan B”), that will monitor its emissions with the aim to become carbon neutral after fi ve years. In a release, M&S Chief Executive, Stuart Rose said “This is a deliberately ambitious and, in some areas, diffi cult plan. We don’t have all the answers but
we are determined to work with our suppliers, partners and government to make this happen. Doing anything less is not an option.” The business-wide GB£200 mil “eco-plan” will have an impact on every part of M&S’ operations over the next fi ve years at which point they plan to:

• Become carbon neutral
• Send no waste to landfi ll
• Extend sustainable sourcing
• Set new standards in ethical trading
• Help customers and employees live a healthier lifestyle.

While Rose said: “…our customers, employees and shareholders now expect us to take bold steps and do business differently and responsibly”, many of the
measures are still only limited to their operations in the UK.

Sarah Liao points out that the World Bank and other international bodies have done good work in this area and have published their methodologies for others in
the private sector to learn from. The World Bank makes the following statement “To become emission neutral, The World Bank Group engages in energy conservation programs and invests in projects to make up for, or
“offset,” the amount of carbon it releases into the atmosphere from operating our buildings, travelling, and commuting.”

case study
International Finance Centre has an internal program focused on making sustainability an integral part of IFC’s day-to-day work in its 100 plus offi ces around the world. Running IFC’s business generates direct impacts
on its physical and social environment - through the building and operations of offi ces, relationships with neighbouring communities and our
daily work habits. As such, says Sarah Raposa “IFC has a “footprint commitment” to continually improve our environmental and social performance through the individual and collective decisions we make in the workplace”.

Following these goals, Raposa, outlines the company’s internal carbon footprint
commitment and their three step approach to becoming “carbon neutral”:
1. Calculate carbon emissions. Using a methodology based on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)/WRI Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative, an internationally recognised accounting and reporting standard for GHG emissions, IFC has recently updated its greenhouse inventory based on EPA’s Climate Leaders Program.
2. Reduce carbon emissions through familiar conservation measures at the staff and office level: replacing incandescent light bulbs with fl uorescent bulbs, regulating temperature settings for our heating and cooling, installing effi cient heating and cooling systems, designing new buildings to allow for energy effi ciencies, etc.
3. Buy “carbon offsets.” To-date, IFC has been sending money to a bio-sequestration project with community benefi ts. A carbon offset purchase allows IFC to balance what we produce and what we have offset. Ultimate goal is “zero net carbon”- buying enough to offset all carbon emissions from all our offi ces and business operations (including business travel).



expanding the carbon commitment Purchasing energy from renewable resources and carbon offsetting has to date only been directed at its Washington offi ce. However, as part of an ongoing commitment in 2007, IFC is strengthening methodology for tracking GHG emissions from its 100+ offi ces
located around the world, which make up more than 30 percent of its global offi ce space. IFC will be collecting footprint data from its 20 largest offi ces, which represents every region and 62 percent of total fi eld staff in addition to headquarters staff. IFC will be using this data to purchase an annual offset and retire credits by June 2007. For example, new base-build owned IFC offi ce buildings in Africa will be constructed according to environmentally sustainable principles.

1) New Construction 2) Building Interiors 3)Existing Buildings.

This article is not even the tip of, to use a sadly apt metaphor, the iceberg. Much information exists for companies wanting to measure their carbon footprint, but
real estate agents and others selecting sites should also be aware of how the acts of government and landlords may inhibit your ability to control your impact. A green building in a green country will get you closer to carbon neutrality far faster, and these locations will be in the highest demand. So for those who care promoting your activities and generally participating in what could become the greatest community act humankind is yet to witness will assist those who do have power over your carbon emissions move faster. As Chad Holliday, CEO Dupont noted “it would be alarmest to say that just because we had the hottest winter on record global warming is a fact and it is moving that fast.” However, “We are looking at a very serious problem here.” RFP

NOMINATE NOW

Subscribe Now

Sign Up for Ezine

Past Issues