r&d project charter: green leases

R&D Project Charter:Green Leases

Green Leases: Assessment and Recommendation to Increase the Adoption of Green Leases in Commercial Real Estate

Steve Evanko, Capital One

Steve Dunn, SRA International, Mid-Atlantic Chapter (End User)

David Hodgins, Clinton Comate Initiative

Lisa Scala, Herman Miller, Mid-Atlantic Chapter

Landlord Broker representative

Legal representative

Project Title

Team

Call to Action

Date/ Products Kickoff Done

4/2010 Assessment of current state of green leases

4/2010 Assessment of current implementation of green leases

10/2010 Tools for green leases (sample RFP templates, green lease clauses, other lease transaction documents)

10/2010 Disseminate tools and reports to CNG community

DRAFTTimeline dependent on scope

Even though there’s increasing interest in addressing energy conservation and greening of facilities, real estate industry needs to focus on the bulk of the existing building stock which was not built to green standards. This projects will assess and recommend model green leases and leasing rfps to encourage green leases.

Hypotheses

Desired Outcomes

Desired Resources/ Assistance from CNG

• Green leases are rarely implemented by the real estate community.• Green leases are not well understood by the real estate community.• Existing green leases either are not from the end-user point of view or

does not provide the right level of explanation or tools to drive adoption.

• Increase the adoption of green leases to promote the partnering of landlords and occupants for a greener workplace (i.e., less environmental impacts, lower energy use, lower water use, recycling options, etc.)

• Help user community have a clearer understanding of the differences between traditional and non-traditional leases (definitions, business value, etc.)

• Compare existing “green leases” so that user can select appropriate template

• Provide easy-to-use guidelines and guidance for user to develop and negotiate a “green lease.’

• Vet product inside and outside of CNG to create an industry standard platform for association-centric add-on documentation.


Scope 1. Pre-Kickoff (underway)a) Refine scope of workb) Recruit volunteers or other subject matter experts (potentially e-blast

to CNG members)2. Capture the current state of green leases (past reports and articles,

etc.)a) Definitions: what is a green lease?b) What is the adoption of green leases?c) Comparative assessment of existing “green leases.”d) Comparative assessment of typical traditional lease vs. “green

leases.”e) Assess which regions are seeing the most green lease activity

(California, NY, Canada?)3. Analyze the current implementation of green leases

a) Identify barriers and gapsb) Identify best practicesc) Potentially conduct survey of Corenet members


Scope (contin.)

Date/Products


1.Develop tools to improve adoption of green leasesa) Simple business argument for green leasesb) Counter arguments typically voiced by stakeholder and approaches to

overcome resistancec) Guidelines and guidance rather than full documents

Sample RFP TemplatesSample Green Lease Clauses to insert into existing leasesOther lease transaction-related docs? ITrequirements? What

else? 2.Vet Tools and Analysis with appropriate stakeholders.

a) Share or disseminate the tools and reports throughout the CNG community

b) Shared with other professional associations and NGO’s represented on the CNG Sustainability Community Advisory Council

Goal is to have something significant done by April 2010 conference in New Orleans…

Survey prior to conference, report findings at the conference?


Potential Questions

Existing Resources



Are we drafting this study largely to benefit end-user or to cover all stakeholders in the leasing chain?

Studies• CNG-UK Green Leases• BOMA - Model “green” lease (BES has performed work in this area

looking at the existing green leases and conducting a best practices assessment of templates and strategies.)

• NRDC• Other potential sources (AIA, IFMA, EPA, Green Globe, USGBC, etc)

Model Green Leases • Allan Whitson• Others?

Need project manager to lead effort

Survey design ($20K)—iDEA would be willing to design at costs

Survey analysis and administration ($TBD)

Report production ($10K)


r&d project charter: green leases

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