Originally published on July 18, 2023, by Rhiannon Samuel for NAIOP.

A new proposed rule change to how air quality permits are issued in the Albuquerque metro has many economic development organizations, associations and businesses very concerned. While the goal of protecting vulnerable communities and improving air quality is necessary, we must also carefully consider the impact of rigid regulations on economic development.

Proposed Rule Change: An Overview

In November 2022, several local activist organizations submitted a letter and proposed rule change to the Albuquerque/Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board, aiming to address the concentration of air pollution in low-income and minority neighborhoods. The proposed changes grant the board the authority to enforce greater emission monitoring and reporting requirements than what the Environmental Protection Agency requires on any entity emitting air contaminants. It also circumvents the board’s decision and appeal process to automatically deny certain permit applications. Those triggers to automatically deny applications include areas that will impact an “overburdened community,” where if one characterization is true, then the permit cannot be approved.

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Originally published on June 8, 2023, by Kathryn Hamilton, CAE for NAIOP.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and decarbonization initiatives can yield significant advances across the industry, from the important climate benefits to improved investor and community relations. While these are not new concepts – the first solar panels date back to 1954 – they are fresher to commercial real estate as owners and developers evaluate how to retrofit existing properties and incorporate elements of sustainability into their projects.

A panel of commercial real estate ESG leaders took to the stage at I.CON East this week to share how their companies have embraced these goals and moved them forward to benefit both their businesses and the communities where their properties are located.

“There’s a big drive to decarbonize in every industry, with companies tracking greenhouse gas emissions and making disclosures” said David Crist, CEM, director of sustainability with ARCO Design/Build. “Scope 3 [the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s forthcoming guidelines on measuring emissions that are the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organization, but that the organization indirectly affects in its value chain] will have a big impact but is yet unknown. At ARCO, we’re looking at embodied carbon, or the emissions from the materials going into the building. Ninety percent of a building’s emissions are embodied, and the other 10% are operational.”

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Originally published on October 12, 2022, by Ian P. Murphy for NAIOP.

Pressure to satisfy environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals among companies in the commercial real estate sector has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to panelists at CRE.Converge.

External pressure is building as local governments establish environmental benchmarking ordinances. But even where regulatory demands and tenant awareness are lacking, boards and investors are asking their firms to do more. “A lot of it is internal,” said Leslie Moore, senior vice president and director of ESG and corporate operations for LXP Industrial Trust. “Certain investors really push for it.”

“We don’t have a lot of pressure from our tenants to adopt sustainability as much as I’ve seen in the office sector,” said Rielle Green, director of ESG for Acadia Realty Trust, a retail REIT. “That’s coming from our investors and board. They ask, ‘What is our strategy? Are we in line with our peers?’”

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