CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm, has recently reaffirmed its commitment to the benefits of green buildings when it reached a new milestone — 50 LEED certified buildings. CBRE now manages 50 LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) properties that total more than 29 million square feet of building space.

 

The LEED-EB rating system focuses on the operation and maintenance of existing buildings. This is a great tool that property owners can use to guide their energy efficiency retrofits. When a company like CBRE does it on a grand scale, it draws attention to the importance of energy-efficient commercial spaces. Commercial buildings are responsible for a significant portion of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and so retrofitting these buildings to be more energy efficient is a great way to make a substantial impact on our nation’s carbon footprint.

 

Speaking about CBRE’s accomplishment, U.S. Green Building Council CEO Rick Fedrizzi said, “We could not be more proud of CBRE’s ever-growing portfolio of LEED certified projects. What better way to tackle our collective environmental challenges head-on than to start by retrofitting our existing building stock, ensuring better use of energy and fewer impacts to our natural resources.” Source: USGBC (PDF)

 

Although CBRE has reached this milestone, its commitment to green building is not waning. The company currently has 59 more projects and an additional 40 million square feet that should receive LEED certification by the end of the year.