Jones Lang LaSalle reports carbon footprint data for its global operations
CHICAGO, April 27, 2009 — Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL), the leading integrated financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate, today announced it has quantified its firmwide carbon footprint and the carbon emissions reductions achieved for its clients. These measurements support Jones Lang LaSalle’s commitment to leading the real estate industry in environmental sustainability and energy management, both for clients and within its own operations.
In 2008, Jones Lang LaSalle was responsible for emitting an estimated 44,000 metric tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, equating to 3.2 tonnes per fulltime, non-reimbursable employee. During the same period, the firm helped clients reduce their carbon emissions by nearly 10 times that amount—more than 438,000 tonnes—and generated $95 million in energy savings for them.
Using industry leading methodologies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager program, as well as its own best practices, Jones Lang LaSalle’s Energy and Sustainability Services professionals and management teams eliminated nearly 2.7 trillion British thermal units of energy consumption worldwide. This accomplishment resulted in reduced carbon emissions by an amount equal to the annual emissions of 80,000 cars or 40,000 households.
“Because we manage 1.4 billion square feet of real estate for clients, the greatest contribution we can make to global sustainability and energy management efforts is through our activities on their behalf,” said Lauralee Martin, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Jones Lang LaSalle. “We will continue to act responsibly in our operations and to implement innovative energy management and sustainability solutions to minimize our carbon footprint. But as these numbers show, the biggest impact we can make is to reinforce our investment in the services we deliver to clients.”
Jones Lang LaSalle has instituted a range of practices in recent years to control its impact on the environment, including:
· Ongoing support of ACT: A Cleaner Tomorrow, a firmwide program to educate and engage employees on environmentally conscious actions they can take at work and in their daily lives.
The only real estate firm admitted to Ceres, a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change.
· Consideration of sustainability in making occupancy decisions.
· Development of sustainable design standards for building out space at 180 corporate offices worldwide.
· Acquisition of hybrid vehicles for the firm’s U.S. maintenance fleet.
· Adding sustainability as a criteria in the selection of vendors.
In addition, Jones Lang LaSalle supports industry and client sustainability measures in a variety of ways:
· Expansion of partnerships with organizations such as Energy Star.
· A commitment to lead the real estate industry in the number of sustainability accredited professionals. Currently, Jones Lang LaSalle employs 380 personnel with accreditation in industry-leading rating systems such as LEED, BREEAM, Green Star and NABERS.
· Industry leadership in LEED certification of new and existing properties. In 2008, the firm worked on or had completed 116 LEED projects worldwide, including projects totalling 35 MSF in the Americas alone.
· Expansion of its Sustainability University to help U.S. employees develop and maintain skills needed to serve clients effectively.
· Development of industry leading processes, practices and tools to better streamline, control and measure progress in energy and sustainability programs on behalf of clients.
Calculating its Carbon Footprint
In determining its carbon footprint, Jones Lang LaSalle used the Greenhouse Gas Protocol procedures to estimate the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions from the energy consumed to operate its offices, travel on commercial airlines for business and operate fleet vehicles for mobile maintenance services provided to clients.
The challenge of measuring CO2 emissions from hundreds of locations worldwide was met with the help of the same portfolio energy and environmental management system Jones Lang LaSalle uses at thousands of client facilities. This sophisticated system enables the firm to measure emissions resulting from its worldwide office occupancy, fleet operations and air travel in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, taking into consideration local emissions rates and site specific conditions.
“Even as we implement better environmental practices, our carbon footprint is likely to increase incrementally as our firm grows,” said Dan Probst, chairman of Energy and Sustainability Services at Jones Lang LaSalle. “Our commitment is to continue to influence the global reduction of carbon emissions by continuing to reduce emissions in client operations by a factor of 10 times our own carbon footprint each year.”
“We will also continue to lead the transformation of the real estate industry to reduce the environmental impacts of commercial real estate,” Martin said. “We will continue to invest in energy and sustainability expertise. And, even as our company continues to grow, we will work together to find new ways to limit our own carbon footprint.”
About Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) is a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate. The firm offers integrated services delivered by expert teams worldwide to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying or investing in real estate. With 2008 global revenue of $2.7 billion, Jones Lang LaSalle serves clients in 60 countries from 750 locations worldwide, including 180 corporate offices. The firm is an industry leader in property and corporate facility management services, with a portfolio of approximately 1.4 billion square feet worldwide. LaSalle Investment Management, the company’s investment management business, is one of the world’s largest and most diverse in real estate with more than $46 billion of assets under management. For further information, please visit our Web site, www.joneslanglasalle.com.
contact:
Craig Bloomfield
Vice President, Public Relations
Jones Lang LaSalle
200 E. Randolph
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 228-2774