Newsletter
Global Cities Shaping A Carbon Neutral Future
Fifth Wall Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/fifthwall/local-regulations-driving-change-in-real-estate
For real estate owners and operators, local regulation is increasingly making the sustainable choice and the economic choice one in the same. A majority of any city's emissions come from construction and building operations, so cities with climate goals are focused on buildings.
- San Francisco requires that commercial buildings larger than 10,000 square feet benchmark energy performance annually and disclose results.
- Colorado Springs calls for buildings over 50,000 square feet to report energy use data annually.
- Kansas City buildings must report energy and water consumption annually.
What's more: Regulations that target carbon emissions are rolling out globally. C40 cities like Paris, Cape Town, and Stockholm (along with 26 others) have committed to enacting policies that ensure new buildings operate at net zero by 2030 and all buildings are net zero by 2050.
A recent report in Newsweek highlights even more cities focused on regulations regarding emissions:
- Vancouver aims to be carbon neutral by 2050 and have buildings and transportation powered only by renewable energy before then.
- Amsterdam is looking to reduce its city's carbon emissions by 55 percent by 2030 and 95 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.
- Sydney turned its city's operations carbon neutral back in 2007—and recently introduced landmark climate legislation to solidify and track progress towards emission reduction goals.
Bottom line: “The demand signal from the policy arena has never been stronger,” said Brendan Wallace, cofounder and managing partner at Fifth Wall. “All levels of government are putting tremendous resources behind pragmatic action oriented approaches.”
