Sustainability – Project Development/Infrastructure/P3

November 26, 2019January 9, 2020 by Brad A. Molotsky

Philadelphia Passes Mandatory Building Energy Efficiency Tune-Up Bill

Philadelphia’s City Council unanimously passed a bill requiring owners of non-residential commercial buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to perform regular building tune-ups to improve their energy efficiency performance.

This policy marks Philadelphia’s first mandate regarding building energy performance improvements and is intended to help meet Mayor Jim Kenney’s clean energy goals to reduce citywide carbon emissions 80% by 2050.

The Bill requires small low- or no-cost adjustments to existing building energy systems and controls that improve their energy efficiency performance. According to the Institute for Market Transformation (“IMT”), these minor tweaks on average result in 10-15% annual energy savings, more comfortable tenants, and less equipment failure issues down the road.

Philadelphia’s new law builds upon its prior 2012 mandatory energy benchmarking policy and program. The 2012 benchmarking law requires building owners to measure and publicly report their yearly energy usage using Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager (a free tool available from the EPA).

Since making a building more energy efficient requires professionals to work directly in that building, energy efficiency jobs typically lead to higher local employment, as these jobs tend to be locally-based jobs that cannot really be outsourced.

Following Seattle, Philadelphia is the 2nd city in the U.S. to enact a building tune-up policy, and are several other key big cities have taken similar action through laws such as retro-commissioning or energy audit requirements, including Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles.

Per IMT, a few local jurisdictions are going even further by enacting building performance standards to reduce carbon emissions and waste. The New York City and Washington, DC policies that were passed earlier in 2019 are some of the most ambitious climate actions cities have taken to date, requiring building owners to achieve a certain level of performance that is set by the cities, with sizable fines for those who do not comply.

As cities account for a high percentage of nationwide greenhouse gas emissions, cutting the energy use from their buildings will meaningfully contribute to reducing our national carbon footprint.

To date, only a few cities have actually mandated building energy performance improvements. Philadelphia, has now taken this step forward.

October 15, 2019 by Brad A. Molotsky

Climate Change viewed as a Major Problem in NJ according to a recent Stockton University poll – Brad A. Molotsky, Duane Morris, LLP

According to a Stockton University poll released earlier this week, 2/3 of New Jersey residents believe climate change is a crisis and almost 75% believe it is affecting New Jersey.

Per Stockton’s press release, “the results show climate change is a concern to people all over New Jersey and not just those who live along the Jersey shore,” said John Froonjian, interim director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton, who presented an overview of the results at Coast Day at Stockton Atlantic City on Oct. 13.

As reported in Bisnow, among those who believe climate change is currently affecting NJ, more than 75% cited rising sea level, earth warming, harming or changing the ocean, extreme weather, and worsening pollution as major problems they are concerned about.

Beach erosion was cited by 70% as a major problem, while harm to farming was mentioned by 68%, flooding by 66%, and health effects by 57%.

More than half of respondents (56%) believe government could or should do more, and 31% say the government response is totally inadequate.

Per the poll, views did vary along party lines. Democrats (92%) and independents (64%) were more likely to see climate change as a crisis or major problem than Republicans (35%). Women (72%) were also more likely to view it as a crisis or major problem than men (62%).

The results also showed while young people are the most concerned about the issue, concern cuts across age, racial, ethnic, economic, gender and geographic lines. Almost 80% of respondents ages 18-29 see climate changes as a crisis or a major problem. That percentage drops to under 70% for those over 65.

We will continue to monitor trends and thinking in ESG and climate change and report back. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at bamolotsky@duanemorris.com and I will direct your question accordingly.

-Brad A. Molotsky, Esq., LEED AP – O+M

January 11, 2019January 16, 2019 by Brad A. Molotsky

ESG – Is anybody listening, does anybody care – YES indeed!

Who Cares About ESG?

Before we answer the question “Who cares about ESG?” I think we should first define it. The acronym itself stands for environmental, social and governance factors that apply to a business or enterprise. According to Investopedia, E-S and G are the three main factors investors consider with regard to a firm’s ethical impact and sustainable practices. The site gives some examples that fall under each of the broad headings, including “the company’s impact on climate change or carbon emissions, water use or conservation efforts, anti-corruption policies, board member diversity, human rights efforts and community development.”

ESG and sustainability are often used interchangeably (even though they are not) because the investor community tends to refer to ESG whereas companies tend to refer to these criteria under the umbrella of sustainability. Regardless, Nasdaq reports that both terms refer to the ESG factors that “can impact a company’s ability to execute its business strategy and create value.”

So, who cares about ESG? Certainly member states of the U.N. who signed on to the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are monitoring, measuring and verifying these criteria. And, moving from the perspective of the nation state to an enterprise, more than 12,000 have pledged to support the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Drilling down to the individual level, Thomson Reuters notes that we’re in the midst of the “the largest inter-generational transfer of wealth ever seen, with some US $24 Trillion expected to be under the control of the millennial population by 2020.” Yes, by next year. And, just as millenials value purpose in their work, they also choose investments that reflect their values.

At Duane Morris, we strive to serve our clients as trusted business partners so we can deliver them exceptional value. Throughout the year, starting later this month, we will be convening business leaders to take a deeper dive into various ESG topics that are affecting their companies and creating opportunities for investors and venture partners. In addition to this blog, we will also be hosting a webinar series and will seek to create additional content as ESG-related issues arise through new legislation and regulatory mandates.

With so much of the world’s attention on the impact we’re having on our collective environment and in our communities, and with so much of the world’s wealth at stake, perhaps the real question is not who cares about ESG, but, rather who isn’t concerned about ESG?

#ESG #sustainability #GRESB #SDG #SASB #GRI

January 10, 2019 by Brad A. Molotsky

ESG – Relevant in this day and age or just a fad?

I had the pleasure of attending the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) – Philadelphia Chapter meeting yesterday morning at the Union League in Philadelphia. Very good attendance to hear Dave Stangis (Campbell’s Soup), Jamie Rantanen (US Trust) and Jennifer Wong (Glenmede) discuss the topic of ESG (“Environmental, Social and Governance”) as it relates to public company and private company investment.

ESG provides companies and investors with a systematic means to identify risk within the lens of environmental issues, social issues and governance issues. Different, but related to, Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) which is the means of improving social outcomes within an organization and how and organization measures its ESG outcomes.

Super conversation and some interesting questions from the audience during the presentation that touched on aligning values with investment outcomes (i.e., impact investing), risk mitigation through focus on ESG, the Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs), the increase of shareholder activism in the investment space, including an increased focus on ESG issues, the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (or SASB) and their focus on measurable sustainability metrics, and the difference between philanthropy, impact investing, ESG investing and standard market investing.

To the question about ESG and is it relevant from the audience member focused on mutual fund investing – the panel and this author firmly believe yes, ESG is relevant, becoming more relevant and an increasing amount of investors are seeking to invest in companies that align their ROI with ESG. No, not everyone, of course, but more and more as time goes on. I for one believe ESG will continue to become more relevant as a lens within which to view investing, efficiency, and alignment of investor interests with companies that more closely match their values.

I look forward to engaging in the conversation as the year progresses and to including some of my friends and colleagues in a monthly chat on ESG. Come join us if of interest.

Check out RBS’s chart at http://go.pardot.com/l/441592/2018-09-18/jjjrt8 for some interesting data

See also, Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock’s statement on ESG – https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/literature/publication/blk-esg-investment-statement-web.pdf

#Sustainability #ESG #SRI #impactinvesting #governance #SASB #environmental, social, governance