Hines Appoints Firms’ First Vice President Of Carbon Strategy.

Hines, one of the world’s leading developers, is creating a role to assess the global carbon emissions of the firm. Micheal Izzo, formerly Vice President of Construction in the firm’s U.S. East region, was appointed as the firms’ first Vice President of Carbon Strategy. Hines’ commitment to the decarbonisation of the built environment is the latest in a growing tide of real estate companies ramping up environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. “Based on his deep technical expertise and successful implementation of decarbonisation strategies with some of our new projects, we are thrilled that Mike has agreed to lead the carbon strategy for our firm as we embark on creating carbon standards for the built environment,” Peter Epping, Hines’ Global Head of ESG, said. Hines’ carbon reduction efforts are part of its larger ESG strategy being helmed by Epping. Sensitive to the growing chorus of investors, occupiers, and communities demanding better from the commercial real estate industry, Hines’ seeks to use its integrated model to shape the next generation of the built environment. A report from CBRE looked specifically at how corporate ESG goals growing in popularity through practically every industry are changing the conversation in commercial real estate. The report found 83 percent of industry executives expect growing demand for sustainable buildings from tenants while 54 percent said they will be changing their portfolio strategy towards ESG. “Ten years ago, sustainability was all about corporate social responsibility. For the last five years, it’s been about how to integrate sustainability into core business strategies. The next five years are all about how we integrate it into capitalism,” Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, told Ronald Berger, an international management consultancy headquartered in Munich. Hines’ own 555 Greenwich Square is an example of what the next generation of net-zero buildings will look like. The 270,000 square-foot, 16-story office designed by COOKFOX Architects will exceed New York Cities’ stringent 2030 climate targets for office buildings by nearly 50 percent and is already aligned with the City’s 2050 carbon neutral targets. The building is the first new office to use its concrete superstructure for thermal energy storage. Together with sustainable mechanical, engineering, and plumbing systems, including geothermal piles that use concrete for heat exchanges, the building is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 46 percent with a 29 percent reduction in electrical consumption. AECOM Tishman is expected to deliver the building in Q4 2022. CBRE is serving as the exclusive listing agent. Hines’ new Vice President of Carbon Strategy Michael Izzo worked closely on the 55 Greenwich project, now he’s been tasked with implementing those lessons across Hines’ globe-spanning portfolio. To date Hines has now developed, redeveloped, or acquired 1,393 properties, totaling over 459 million square feet. Behind some of the most iconic skylines on five different continents, the firm has defined many aspects of quality and now it hopes to add a new one: sustainability. “We believe over time this approach will become the industry standard, driving material suppliers to do better and rewarding those that do. By bringing focus to significantly reducing embodied carbon, while continuing to decrease operational carbon, we intend to address the holistic impact buildings have on increasing global temperatures and partake in the transition to net-zero,” Izzo said.  “