CHICAGO, Ill. — More than 500
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) employees now hold
LEED accreditation or its equivalent designation, allowing the real estate services firm to meet a goal it set in 2008 six months ahead of schedule.
JLL has steadily been positioning itself as a leader in the commercial green building segment since completing its first LEED certified project in 2003. It launched its
Sustainability University in April 2008 to serve as an internal resource to help its global employees earn a variety of accreditations, such as LEED, BREEM, IEMA, NABERS Energy and Green Star.
“One of their first orders of business was to create classes, Power Points and other tools to help existing employees take the LEED exam,” Craig Bloomfield, JLL’s vice president of public affairs, said in a telephone interview.
At the time of the Sustainability University’s launch, the company had set a goal of increasing the number of accredited professionals to 200 by the end of 2008, and to 500 in 2009. By late June, JLL’s ranks of accredited professionals soared to 544. With 36,200 employees worldwide, the LEED APs account for roughly 1.5 percent of its workforce.
Last month, JLL announced it has also become the first firm in the real estate sector to join the
Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy initiative, a coalition launched by sustainability nonprofit
Ceres last year to push for effective climate change and energy policy.
With charter members that include
Nike, Starbucks and Sun Microsystems, the group better known as BICEP formed with the idea that Ceres would work closely with member companies -- which represent key allies in the business community -- and political allies in Congress to press for progressive legislation. JLL is also the only company in its industry to be a member of Ceres.
The firm, which had $2.7 billion in revenue in 2008, has clients in 60 countries with a portfolio for property and corporate facility management services that encompasses 1.4 billion square feet worldwide. The company’s investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has more than $46 billion of assets under management.
In April, Jones Lang LaSalle announced its global carbon footprint as well as the total reduction of carbon emissions the firm helped its clients achieve in 2008. In 2008, the firm was responsible for emitting an estimated 44,000 metric tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, equating to 3.2 tonnes per full-time, non-reimbursable employee, the company reported. During the same period, JLL said, it helped clients reduce carbon emissions almost 10 times that amount -- more than 438,000 tonnes -- and generated $95 million in energy savings for them.
“The best way for us to help the environment is to focus on client services and grow that part of our business,” said Bloomfield, who himself is also a LEED AP.
The company reported that the cut in energy consumption worldwide was almost 2.7 trillion British thermal units of energy consumption worldwide, thanks to its Energy and Sustainability Services teams.
The company, with 28 LEED certified buildings under its management,
announced in April it is leading an initiative to achieve LEED Gold certification at the Empire State Building in New York City.
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