Real estate agents and building owners across Sydney have encouraged tenants to turn off their lights for one hour in March to help reduce the city?s greenhouse gas pollution.
Participants will join sixty other major companies taking part in the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour campaign on Saturday March 31, 2007, by turning off their building lights for one hour at 7.30 pm.
According to WWF Australia, the move is a major signal that corporate Australia is committed to reducing global warming.
This event is the first step to cut Sydney’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5% in 2007 and 28 of the leading companies committed to Earth Hour are already part of the 3CBDs Greenhouse Initiative, run by the City of Sydney, with North Sydney and Parramatta City Councils, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The three CBDs of Sydney, North Sydney and Parramatta make up Australia’s largest business district – covering 5 million sqm of the country’s office space.
According to WWF Australia, Australia’s commercial business sector is responsible for around 10% of national greenhouse gas emissions.
Commercial tenancies typically consume in the order of 48% of the total energy use in office buildings which is 13% of the total commercial sector energy use. 60% of the total energy demand in the central business districts is attributed to stationery energy use.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Australian chief executive Christine Bartlett said the firm is actively involved both advising clients on monitoring carbon emissions for their commercial properties as well as closely reviewing its own practices on how best to reduce greenhouse emissions.
“In Sydney Jones Lang LaSalle’s offices will have "lights out" on the 31st of March, and we encourage other corporates and clients to do the same," Bartlett added.
One of the property groups committed to Earth Hour is Investa, which operates more than 20% of space in the Sydney CBD.
Investa is a 3CBDs signatory and listed on the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world.
Investa has exceeded all its 3-year performance commitments set out in 2003. As at March 2006 Investa had reduced its energy consumption by 19.3%, water consumption by 37.9% and had diverted 57% of waste from landfill to recycling from all its office buildings. Overall Investa achieved a 38,572T reduction in CO2 emissions.
Investa’s general manager of Sustainability, Safety & Environment Craig Roussac said as the group is asking more than 400 of its tenants to turn off their lights on the night.
“… and we will also turn off all the external lighting on our buildings, including advertising signage,” he added.
WWF-Australia’s chief executive Greg Bourne said the support from the business community is outstanding.
“If we can show that we can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions it sends a powerful message across Australia and the world that we can initiate major change,” he added.
Colliers International will also turn off lights in their five offices for Earth Hour and will request the same of their building tenants across Sydney.
“Earth Hour is just one part of our ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse emissions and increase energy efficiency within our organisation and we also have a unique opportunity to educate and influence large and small commercial owners and occupiers,” Colliers International’s Australian chief executive John Kenny said.
The following are a number of the companies that have committed to Earth Hour:
- AGL, ANZ Banking Group Limited, Babcock & Brown Environmental Investments Limited, Centennial Coal Company Limited, Coca-Cola Amatil Limited, Coca-Cola Australia, Fairfax Media, The GPT Group, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, IAG, InterContinental Hotel, Jones Lang LaSalle, Leo Burnett, Origin Energy, Perpetual Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Star City Casino, Stockland, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, UBS, Veda Advantage and Woodhead.
3CBDs Signatories commited to Earth Hour represent a variety of sectors including property development, insurance, law, banking, investment and energy:
· Allens Arthur Robinson, AMP Capital Investors, Arup, CB Richard Ellis, City of Sydney, Colliers International, Colonial First State Property, Commonwealth Bank, Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability, DTZ Australia, Energetics, Environ, Ernst & Young, Ferrero Australia, HamiltonThomson, ING Real Estate, Investa Property Group, KPMG, Lend Lease, Minter Ellison, Mirvac, Multiplex, North Sydney Council, NSW Health, Parramatta City Council, Stockland, The GPT Group and Westpac.
Australian Property Journal
