The United Nations Environment Programme Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (UNEP-SBCI) has selected the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, as a partner on an ambitious new initiative to establish baselines of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector. This unique partnership enables the SBE to take a leadership role in UNEP-SBCI’s global activities promoting sustainable building policies.

U.N. and NYU Schack Forge New Partnership to Reduce Global Carbon Footprint

United Nations Environment Programme- Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative and NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate’s Center for the Sustainable Built Environment Forge New Partnership to Reduce  the Global Carbon Footprint

-- Collaboration Will Focus on U.S. Buildings’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions --

The United Nations Environment Programme Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (UNEP-SBCI) has selected the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, as a partner on an ambitious new initiative to establish baselines of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector.  This unique partnership enables the SBE to take a leadership role in UNEP-SBCI’s global activities promoting sustainable building policies.   

In the initial phase, the SBE will produce a report that summarizes total GHG emissions from building operations in the U.S. The Buildings and Climate Change in the United States report will document current and historical energy consumption patterns in buildings, explore opportunities for, and barriers to, greater energy efficiency, forecast future trends through modeling of energy reduction scenarios and the implications of building-related GHG emissions.  The report is intended to inform policy recommendations at the national level, similar to reports previously produced by UNEP-SBCI for South Africa and Mexico.

As a key component of the production of the U.S. report, the SBE will generate a potential standardized template that may be adopted by UNEP-SBCI for the development of subsequent national reports in other countries. The development of the U.S. report and similar initiatives in other countries will comprise a suite of national reports envisioned by UNEP-SBCI to provide recommendations and lessons learned that will be integrated in its bi-annual report, “Buildings and Climate Change: Summary for Decision Makers.”  

“The work that the NYU Schack Institute is doing will provide valuable information on the state of sustainable buildings in the United States,” said Arab Hoballah, chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch of UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics and a UNEP-SBCI board member.  “This partnership with the SBE is important not only for the data that will inform us on sustainable buildings in the U.S., but also because it will provide us with a standardized template to collect and report similar information in many more countries.”

“Buildings in the U.S. account for approximately 38% of national carbon emissions and 8% of global emissions. We need more robust, comparable and consistent data with a clear understanding of the regulatory context, both in the U.S. and globally, to set targets and develop policies and market mechanisms that could substantially reduce emissions going forward,” said Dr. Constantine Kontokosta, director of the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. “As the lead author, the SBE will use the report and its findings to forge a template that other regions can use as a guide.  It is both the SBE and UNEP-SBCI’s goal to assist countries in analyzing their emissions related to building operations and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment worldwide.  This collaboration with UNEP-SBCI and the WGBC to develop template is a great opportunity to contribute to reducing emissions from the building sector across the world.”

About the UNEP SBCI

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (UNEP-SBCI) works to promote sustainable building policies and practices worldwide.  The initiative presents the common voice of building sector stakeholders on the sustainable performance of buildings, drawing on the United Nations’ unique capacity to provide a global platform for collective action.  UNEP-SBCI was launched in 2006 and works in partnership with key stakeholders in industry, business, government, local authorities, research and academic institutions, NGOs and representatives from civil society.

About the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate

The NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate (www.scps.nyu.edu/schack) was founded in 1967, at the initiative of prominent real estate leaders who encouraged NYU to establish an academic center that provided an educational foundation for professionals within their industry. Today, NYU Schack is home to graduate degree and related graduate certificate programs—notably the M.S. in Real Estate,  the M.S. in Construction Management and the new MS in Real Estate Development—which enroll some 700 full- and part-time students from more than 30 countries and have nearly 2,500 alumni degree-holders around the globe.  In addition, each year approximately 7,200 working professionals enroll in the Institute's professional certificate programs, noncredit courses, and licensure-related offerings in such areas as real estate finance, sales and brokerage, sustainable design, facilities management, and architecture and civil engineering.  The Institute also houses the NYU REIT Center and the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment and hosts key industry events, including annual conferences on Real Estate Capital Markets and REITs. NYU Schack is one of several comprehensive academic divisions within the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS), the NYU home for study and applied research related to key knowledge-based industries where the New York region leads globally.

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