The office market was thrown into turmoil in the post-pandemic shift towards flexible working. Businesses battled with uncertainty over the future of the workplace and whether big glossy office spaces would become obsolete in...more
Last week, the Boston Zoning Commission adopted Net Zero Carbon (NZC) zoning. As addressed in our 2021 and 2023 advisories, this completes a three-part decarbonization strategy, along with the Specialized Energy Code and the...more
The UK government has launched a consultation to reform the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPB) regime, a crucial step towards achieving the nation’s ambitious net-zero targets by 2050. This extensive consultation, which...more
In this Insight, first published in PLC, Freya Scott discusses the RICS Sustainability Report 2023, considers some of the barriers to achieving the carbon net zero goal by 2050 and what can be done to overcome these. ...more
On June 26, 2023, the Cambridge City Council voted to amend the city’s Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) to require large non-residential buildings to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and...more
The City of Boston is advancing three companion regulatory efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for medium-sized and large buildings. As addressed in our 2021 advisory, the Boston Emissions Reduction and Disclosure...more
Against the ambitious backdrop set by the Paris Climate Agreement to reach net-0 by 2050, there is a clear drive by corporations to move forward on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) or sustainability...more
Planning legislation has been framed over many years to grapple with climate change and there is no doubt that there is real impetus at all levels of development to ensure that climate targets are met. In this blog we discuss...more
Furthering the aims of Boston’s 2019 Climate Action Plan, which identified large buildings as major carbon emitters, Boston City Council amended the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) to require all...more
The strategy sets out plans to reduce emissions from key sectors of the UK economy to ensure that the UK remains on track for net zero by 2050. On 19 October 2021, the UK government published its climate change strategy,...more
The Court of Appeal returned a ruling on 27 February 2020 that the UK government's policy statement which included the government's approval of the Heathrow expansion was unlawful because it did not consider the impact of the...more
The issue of climate change couldn’t be more topical. But what is “net zero carbon”? Is it just another buzzword and what does it really mean? The UK Green Building Council has this week published its Framework Definition on...more
Developers and landlords faced the first generation of “green building” initiatives with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and EPA’s Energy Star programs. Now, the states are ready to embark...more