Coretrust Capital Partners has achieved carbon neutrality across its 2.5 million square foot office building portfolio, further reinforcing its leadership in ESG. Coretrust has implemented a comprehensive carbon reduction strategy at its properties including FourFortyFour S. Flower in downtown Los Angeles, Two Liberty Place in Center City Philadelphia, and PASARROYO office campus in Pasadena, CA.
Over the past four years, the company has dramatically reduced its carbon footprint through major capital investments in infrastructure at all its properties including topline upgrades of HVAC, lighting retrofits, elevator modernizations, comprehensive operational updates, and state-of-the-art air quality and filtration technologies.
To close the remaining carbon gap, Coretrust is voluntarily offsetting scope 1 and 2 emissions through Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offsets, according to John Sischo, co-founder and managing principal of Coretrust.
Scope 1 emissions are direct onsite emissions and scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions, generated offsite at the utilities that provide energy to a property.
“In alignment with our company values, we are holding ourselves financially accountable for our environmental footprint by benchmarking, reducing, disclosing, and closing our carbon gap to achieve carbon neutrality,” Sischo says. “By assigning a dollar value to the indirect environmental and social impacts associated with building operations, we are financially supporting renewable energy markets and the development of carbon sequestration technology.”
Sischo continues, “Achieving carbon neutrality in our buildings is a major step toward the goal of providing our tenants and investors with environmentally responsible workplaces and investments.
“Sustainability has been a core principle of Coretrust since our founding and dates back to the late 1990s when our team developed the 950,000-square-foot California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Sacramento. For seven years, the CalEPA Headquarters held the distinction as the world’s first LEED Platinum high-rise building,” notes Sischo. “The CalEPA Headquarters set new environmental standards for office buildings and today Coretrust properties are similarly leading the way in sustainability, carbon neutrality, and tenant health and safety.
“Implementing up-to-date energy efficient infrastructure and rigorous operational practices significantly reduced the cost of acquiring carbon offsets and achieving carbon neutrality,” he points out.
Coretrust is acknowledged as an industry leader by several reputable third-party organizations for its smart, sustainable, and safe workplace environments. Its portfolio has received the first-ever UL Healthy Building Marks for Indoor Air and Water Quality globally, the first commercial real estate GBAC Star certifications from ISSA, and WELL Building Institute’s Health and Safety Certification. In addition, Coretrust office properties have earned LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and Energy Star Certification from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Coretrust recognizes that investing in ESG, carbon neutrality, and health and wellness to reposition its large office properties yields substantial return on investment in the form of reduced operating costs, risk mitigation, greater tenant attraction and retention, and higher investor confidence, reports Sischo.