CBRE study finds Denver is one of the nation’s top 10 greenest cities

Institutional owners of office buildings continued to pursue green building certifications in the 30 largest U.S. markets during 2015. Continuing an upward trend over the past decade, green certifications are now held by 11.8 percent of all surveyed buildings, representing 40.2 percent of all office space.

Both figures are slightly above last year’s results, according to the third annual Green Building Adoption Index study by CBRE Group, Inc. and Maastricht University. “Green” office buildings in the U.S. are defined as those that hold either an EPA ENERGY STAR label, USGBC LEED certification or both.

After placing sixth on the Green Building Adoption Index last year and seventh in 2014, Denver returned to seventh place in 2016 with 46.6 percent of its office space qualified as green certified, down from 48.7 percent last year. San Francisco claimed the top spot with 73.7 percent of its space considered green, followed by Chicago at 72.3 percent and Minneapolis at 60.6 percent. Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles all also achieved more than 50 percent green certification in their office markets. Washington, D.C., Seattle and Philadelphia round out the top 10 green office markets.

“While the rate of growth in ‘green’ buildings has slowed modestly, our latest study underscores that in most major markets, sustainable office space has become the ‘new normal,’” said David Pogue, CBRE’s Global Director of Corporate Responsibility.  

The overall results of the study do show that the while the uptake of green building practices in the 30 largest U.S. cities continues to be significant, the rate of adoption is slowing. In 2014 the total sq. ft. of green office space in the top 30 markets was 39.3 percent compared to the latest rate of 40.2 percent. 

“This likely reflects the fact that only a certain fraction of the building stock can obtain a green or energy-efficiency certification,” said Nils Kok, associate professor in Finance and Real Estate at Maastricht University. “Additionally, we believe that some buildings that were previously certified did not renew their certification in 2015. This does not necessarily mean that the energy use of these buildings has changed, but that some owners and managers may choose not to spend the time or expense to reapply for certification every year.”

A new feature of the 2015 study is a geographic mapping platform that highlights the name, location and details of the specific green certification for each building in all 30 markets. 

Executed in close collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and CBRE Research, this is the third release of the annual Green Building Adoption Index. Based on a rigorous methodology, the Index shows the growth of ENERGY STAR- and LEED-certified space for the 30 largest U.S. office markets, both in aggregate and in individual markets, over the previous 10 years. View the study’s findings HERE.

About CBRE Group, Inc.

CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2015 revenue).  The company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide.  CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services.  Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.