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20 Years: History & Future

In 20 years JLL has grown into a prominent centre of sustainability expertise for the real estate industry and we’ve witnessed it take huge strides forward on the sustainability front.

Major milestones include the birth of building certification systems, the development of robust carbon accounting rules, the formation of green building councils, the emergence of green bonds, the greenest Olympics in modern history, the first solar-powered cities and the start of the healthy building movement. The timeline looks back on the past 20 years and looks at what we know about the next 20 years.

Key:
  • JLL Events
  • Clients Events
  • Popular Culture
January

Upstream sustainability services established

February

Dolly the cloned sheep

December

Kyoto Protocol adopted

February

Biodiversity declines by 30%

May

BREEAM changes for the better

September

JLL creates the first UK environmental property benchmark

December

Gaping hole in ozone layer discovered

January

First sustainability index tracker hits the market

March

Government raises landfill tax

December

Protests against globalisation

January

Urban population approaches 50%

March

LEED green building program launches

February

FTSE4Good is launched

March

America refuses to ratify Kyoto Protocol

April

Government introduce a climate change levy

April

Human Genome Project concluded

September

JLL launches new environmental benchmark for uk shopping centres

June

Polio eliminated in Europe

September

GRI launched

February

Final text of EU buildings energy law published

June

JLL has advised on over 3GW of onshore wind development in the UK

October

Europe adopts first climate emissions trading law

March

JLL joins forces with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

May

JLL assures Land Securities' sustainability report

December

HIV/AIDS claims 2.5 million lives in sub-Saharan Africa

January

Hermes and Aviva founding signatories to the UNPRI

February

Kyoto Protocol enters into force

March

First Ecobuild conference

September

JLL launches new sustainability risk mapping service

May

40% of species threatened with extinction

June

First JLL property triathlon

December

UK introduces code for sustainable homes

February

JLL co-founds the UK Green Building Council

March

Barclays goes carbon neutral

August

EPCS introduced in England and Wales

October

IPCC and Al Gore share Nobel Peace Prize

November

JLL acquires Upstream

February

Construction starts on the world’s first sustainable city

March

Better Buildings Partnership formed

April

JLL formalises sustainability policy

September

Banking crisis

November

UK commits to the world’s first legally binding climate change target

February

Major investors co-found GRESB

March

JLL joins the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project)

June

Swine flu pandemic claims over 14,000 lives

December

UK launches renewable energy strategy

December

World leaders agree Copenhagen accord

March

First low carbon property fund in the UK

April

Renewable energy gets a boost with new feed-in tariff

April

UK government launches mandatory carbon reduction commitment energy efficiency scheme

April

BP Gulf of mexico oil spill

May

JLL's first annual global csr report

January

New sector guidelines and awards encourage companies to report their sustainability data

January

JLL and Greenprint Foundation track carbon performance

February

JLL named market leader in sustainable real estate advice

August

JLL helps cities tackle climate change

November

Western black rhinoceros declared extinct

March

UK government overhauls National Planning Policy

April

JLL launches new energy & infrastructure advisory team

May

JLL backs the changing the face of property initiative

September

JLL creates sustainability training programme

October

World population reaches 7 billion

January

JLL appoints first UK Head of Sustainability

February

Marks & Spencer commits to green leases

May

The Crown Estate embarks on total contribution

May

Grosvenor launch living cities

June

JLL and Better Buildings Partnership launch UK's largest real estate performance data base

January

JLL pledges to be the most sustainable property consultancy

February

Unibail-Rodamco issues landmark green bond

July

ESOS comes into force

October

First building standard to enhance people's health and well-being

December

The Edge receives highest BREEAM rating ever

June

British Land launch Places People Prefer

June

JLL publishes big eight for uk real estate

September

Volkswagen emissions scandal - emissionsgate

October

Jon Snow opens green roof in London’s wild West End

December

Global climate talks in Paris

March

Mediterranean experiences worst drought in 900 years

May

Berkeley group plans to become the first carbon positive housebuilder

June

Land Securities switches to 100% renewable

September

JLL joins Dow Jones Sustainability index

September

JLL first wins BIMA award

Celebrating 20 Years of Sustainability Advice

This year JLL celebrates 20 years of delivering market-leading sustainability expertise to the real estate industry. To mark this anniversary, we're launching Transforming Real Estate, a year-long programme of collaborative events, debates and celebrations. The programme will focus on core sustainability themes, believed to be the driving forces of change over the next two decades. With the help of many talented and dedicated people across the industry, we will offer views and insights to help the industry navigate to a more sustainable future.

See all trends
2017

Donald Trump inaugurated

2017

JLL tops sector for workplace equality

2018

Unlawful to let inefficient buildings

2019

TH Real Estate assess every acquisition for sustainability risk

2020

EU 20-20-20 targets

2020

British Land targets embodied carbon

2020

Aviva aims to scale up investments in clean energy

2020

Land Securities aims for living wage by 2020

2021

L&G Capital aims to lead UK regeneration funding

2022

Share your ambition

2023

Unlawful to let inefficient commercial buildings

2025

Share your ambition

2030

Hammerson commits to being net positive

2040

Majid Al Futtaim aims to be Net Positive in carbon and water

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January

Originally named Environmental Governance, the consultancy that would later become ‘JLL's Upstream Sustainability Services' is formed.

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February

Scientists announce the birth of the first successfully cloned mammal – Dolly the sheep.

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December

By signing the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries, for the first time, committed to internationally binding emission reduction targets.

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February

The WWF published the first Living Planet Report, which finds that global biodiversity has declined by 30% since 1970.

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May

After its launch in 1990, the BREEAM Offices standard undergoes a major revamp in 1998, including the scheme's layout and new features, such as a weighting for different sustainability issues. After this the scheme really took off and versions for other buildings including superstores and industrial units were quickly launched. Now more than 250,000 buildings have been BREEAM certified and over a million are registered for certification – many in the UK and others in more than 50 countries around the world.

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September

Upstream (now part of JLL) launches the Property Environment Group (PEG). This survey is the first of its kind in the UK and benchmarks the environmental credentials of properties from 25 members – among them British Land, Grosvenor, Hammerson, Hermes and Schroders.

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December

To their alarm, scientists discover that the hole in the Ozone layer over Antarctica has grown to a staggering 25 million km2, from just 3 million km2 in 1993.

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January

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) is launched to help investors looking for profitable companies that follow the sustainable development principles.

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March

As part of the 1999 Budget, the government raised the standard rate of Landfill Tax to £10 per tonne and introduced a 'Landfill Tax Accelerator', under which the standard rate would rise by £1 per tonne each year until 2004. In 2016 the standard rate breached £84 per tonne.

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December

Thousands take to the streets to protest against the negative effects of globalisation during a World Trade Conference in Seattle. This marked a new era of demonstrations against globalisation.

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January

UN statistics indicate that almost half of the population of the world live in towns or cities that occupy less than 2% of the earth's land surface but use 75% of its resources.

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March

The LEED green building program is launched and later becomes one of the most well-known markers of the green building movement. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, it's now one of the most popular green building certification programs used worldwide.

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February

The global index group FTSE launched a green index for the first time called FTSE4Good. It was developed with UNICEF and the Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS).

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March

U.S. President George W. Bush announced that the USA will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, saying that the country cannot afford to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

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April

A fixed levy was introduced to cut annual emissions. It applied to all electricity generated from any sources other than renewables and approved cogeneration schemes. However, this exemption was later removed in the July 2015 Budget.

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April

The $3 billion Human Genome Project reported that the human gene count is only about 30,000 – around the same as that of a weed or a mouse – and not 100,000 as expected.

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September

Upstream (now part of JLL) launches a new benchmarking service to help its clients compare the environmental performance of their shopping centres ‘in-use' performance against similar ones in the UK. This led to the creation of The Real Estate Environmental Benchmark (REEB), which was later adopted by the Better Buildings Partnership and has since become one of the foremost standards of its kind in the UK.

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June

Europe is certified Polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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September

After five years of multi-stakeholder, consensus-building, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) releases its guidelines for how organisations should report on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of their business activities.

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February

The final text of the new European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) was published in the official journal of the European Union. Since 2003, EPBD (EU, 2010) requires that all new buildings shall be “nearly zero energy buildings” by the end of 2020. The EPBD is not limited to new buildings, but also covers the retrofit of existing buildings.

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June

In 2003 JLL became involved in the onshore wind sector, providing planning advice on major projects in Scotland – a role which continues today on developments throughout the UK.

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October

Europe adopts first climate emissions trading law, giving carbon dioxide a market value across the EU when trading is implemented in 2005.

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March

JLL is appointed by the WWF to develop and manage the NextGeneration initiative; the first sustainability benchmark for housebuilders. This follows the launch of WWF's 'one million sustainable homes' campaign.

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May

Upstream provides third-party verification for Land Securities' 2004 Corporate Responsibility Report; one of the first standalone sustainability reports in the property sector.

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December

In 2004 alone, 2.5 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa died of AIDS and over 3 million more became infected. Despite making up 10% of the world's population, the region is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV.

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January

In early 2005, the then United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, invited a group of the world’s largest institutional investors to develop the Principles for Responsible Investment. This included Hermes and Aviva among others, who became founding signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI). The Principles were launched in April 2006 at the New York Stock Exchange and since then the number of signatories has grown from 100 to over 1,600.

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February

Following ratification by Russia and Canada, the Kyoto Protocol enters into force, establishing legally binding greenhouse gas emission reductions, and the Clean Development Mechanism for developing countries.

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March

The first UK Ecobuild conference is held, showcasing the best in international sustainable design and construction. It continues to be the leading exhibition for sustainability in the built environment.

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September

Upstream launches the Third Dimension, a unique sustainability risk mapping service, enabling investors to forecast asset performance in light of their exposure to a range of risks.

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May

In the update of its Red List of Threatened Species, the World Conservation Union, now known as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), stated that more than 40% of species assessed worldwide were threatened with extinction.

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June

The first annual JLL Property Triathlon takes place. The event has raised over £1.7 million to date (2017) for charity.

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December

The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) was launched. It would go on to award new homes a rating from Level 1 to Level 6, continually improving the minimum mandatory standard until the 2016 target of 'net zero CO2emissions' was met. The CSH, along with the zero-carbon aspiration, was scrapped in 2015.

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February

JLL became a co-founder of the newly formed UK Green Building Council, the UK's Chapter of the World Green Building Council. The UKGBC was launched by the construction and property industry at the Ecobuild conference and exhibition in London.

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March

Improved energy efficiency, purchasing electricity from renewable energy suppliers and carbon offsetting enabled Barclays plc to be one of the first companies to make its entire UK operations carbon neutral.

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August

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) were introduced in England and Wales as part of Home Information Packs (HIPs) for domestic properties.

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October

Al Gore's landmark documentary, An Inconvenient Truth brings the issue of climate change to the world's stage and makes the compelling case that global warming is real, man-made and its effects will be cataclysmic if we don't act immediately.

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November

JLL acquires Upstream, the UK's leading real estate sustainability services practice. This team continues to grow from strength to strength and is complemented by experts in specialist areas across JLL's business – including facilities management and renewable financing. For more information visit our website.

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February

Work began on Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. The master plan envisioned a city functioning on its own grid with full carbon neutrality that would be home to around 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses. This ambition has since been scaled down somewhat, and it's now aiming to produce 50% of the energy it consumes.

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March

Better Buildings Partnership is a collaboration of the UK's leading commercial property owners, working together to improve the sustainability performance of existing buildings. A host of JLL's clients make up its 27-strong membership. JLL's Upstream Sustainability team is appointed to help its members track, benchmark and optimise the efficiency of their commercial buildings 'in use'. This went on to become one of the first standards of its kind, known within the industry as The Real Estate Environmental Benchmark (REEB).

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April

JLL formalised its first global sustainability commitment and policy.

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September

The collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers sparks the beginning of a global financial crisis. Massive bail-outs of financial institutions were employed to prevent a possible collapse of the world's entire financial system.

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November

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 implemented the world's first legally binding climate change target. It aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from the 1990 baseline by 2050, with an interim target of 34% by 2020. The bill passed into law in November 2008 and came into force in May 2009.

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February

The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) is launched to provide a standardised assessment of the sustainability characteristics of entire property portfolios – anywhere between a few, to thousands of assets. It has since become the most widely used platform for assessing the sustainability of property investments globally. JLL was among GRESB's original endorsers, one of its first formal partners and we were heavily involved in its first steps, advising on the makeup of the very first questionnaire used by its members to report data.

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March

In a brave move, JLL embarks on sharing its environmental and carbon impacts with investors through the CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project. Launched at No.10 Downing Street in 2000, the CDP now hosts the largest registry of corporate ‘greenhouse gas’ (GHG) data in the world.

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June

In June the World Health Organisation (WHO) stopped counting cases of Swine Flu and declared the outbreak a pandemic. It remains one of three pandemics to have occurred in the past 100 years.

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December

To meet the EU renewable target, the UK Renewable Energy Strategy is launched and the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) comes into force; requiring the UK to produce 15% of all energy from renewables by 2020 (which in 2017 looks to fall far short, at around just 8%).

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December

The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on 18 December. It endorsed continuation of the Kyoto Protocol which set out an aspirational goal of limiting global temperature increase to 2°C. It was ‘taken note of’ but not adopted in a debate of all the participating countries the next day.

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March

The Carbon Trust, Threadneedle Property Investments, and Stanhope teamed up to form Low Carbon Workplace, the UK's first low-carbon property fund. In 2015, the fund announced it had generated a 60% return after fees in three years. That equated to an annualised return of 17% (for 2010), which compared very favourably to index tracked property funds.

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April

Feed-In-Tariff payments were introduced in the UK to overcome the cost disincentives associated with installing and operating renewable energy technologies. Guaranteed for fixed periods of up to 20 years, these were later withdrawn.

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April

Aimed at shopping centres, office buildings and other premises with substantial energy requirements. Under the CRC, participants are required to measure and report on their energy consumption and then buy allowances in respect of the consequent CO2 emissions. It is essentially a green tax on energy consumption for the businesses concerned.

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April

The largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry; an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico, causing untold environmental and health damage.

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May

JLL produced its first annual Global CSR report. Click here for our current and historical reports.

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January

The Global Reporting Initiative’s Construction and Real Estate Sector Supplement (GRI CRESS) is published. The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) also launches its own guidelines and awards to raise awareness of and improve sustainability reporting across its member base. JLL played a critical role in establishing and pioneering these early voluntary reporting standards and continues to adjudicate EPRAs annual sustainability reporting awards today.

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January

The Greenprint Foundation is a worldwide alliance of leading real estate owners, investors, financial institutions and other stakeholders committed to reducing carbon emissions across the global property industry. With the help of JLL it published a new report summarising the relative progress of the Foundations' members in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over time. The methodology is based on years of experience in benchmarking the environmental performance of commercial buildings in use at JLL.

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February

Independent analyst firm Verdantix named JLL the market leader in sustainable real estate advice.

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August

JLL sponsors the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Cities Program. As a lead sponsor to CDP Cities, JLL worked in partnership with the CDP, the Clinton Climate Initiative and the C40, an organisation of 40 major cities around the world that committed to tackling climate change challenges.

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November

The western black rhinoceros was officially declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). A subspecies of the black rhino, native to Africa, the western black rhino was last seen in 2006.

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March

The NPPP was launched in March and set out how the Government’s planning policies can be applied at a local level to achieve sustainable developments.

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April

JLL launched a new team to provide commercial and financial advice and to raise capital for developers of renewable energy projects. More information can be found here.

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May

JLL backs a campaign to improve diversity in the property industry through the Changing the Face of Property initiative (CTFOP). This is now supported by the biggest UK real estate service providers.

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September

JLL develops sustainability training programme. The programme later becomes mandatory for all staff in the UK and is introduced to key EMEA countries.

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October

According to the United Nations, the world population reached 7 billion on October 31, 2011.

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January

JLL appointed its first UK Head of Sustainability, Julie Hirigoyen, a new role with a seat on the UK executive and a mission to embed sustainability across the firm. This is closely followed by the creation of a new and dedicated Head of Sustainability within the businesses’ Property and Asset Management division.

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February

The UK-based retailer Marks & Spencer announced plans to make green-related clauses standard within all of its leases for new shopping centre space across the UK.

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May

The Crown Estate embarks on the pioneering pursuit of defining its total contribution. The goal is to express the financial value of all the enterprise’s activities, beyond net revenues. The Crown Estate released its second Total Contribution Report in 2017.

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May

Grosvenor's Living Cities approach is launched, encapsulating its attempts to shape and manage attractive and thriving communities within which people want to live, work and visit.

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June

JLL and the and the Better Buildings Partnership formed a partnership to provide owners and occupiers in the UK with a single benchmarking system for comparing the environmental performance of their commercial property assets. This is unveiled under the new name: Real Estate Environmental Benchmark (REEB).

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January

JLL announced externally its ambition to become the most sustainable property consultancy in the UK and launched its sustainability agenda called Building a Better Tomorrow. In the same year it published its Pathway to 2050 report, which examined whether the industry is on track to meet the UK Government’s target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Later the same year, these efforts and more were rewarded when it received a Gold Award at the Mayor of London’s Business Energy Challenge.

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February

Unibail-Rodamco, a large European commercial property company, issued a landmark €750 million, 10 year green bond. It was 3.4 times oversubscribed in less than 2 hours, and marked the beginning of a long run of corporate green bonds in the real estate sector.

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July

The UK’s Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) Regulations required UK organisations (with over 250 employees) to undertake energy efficiency assessments and identify potential energy savings by 31 December 2015. It has its origins in Article 8 of the Energy Efficiency Directive.

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October

The International Well Building Institute (IWBI) officially launched the WELL Building Standard at its inaugural WELL Building Symposium in New Orleans. Billed as "the world's first building standard to focus on enhancing people's health and well-being through the built environment," version 1.0 of the standard was released following a two-year pilot period.

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December

The Edge, the Amsterdam HQ of Deloitte, received the highest BREEAM rating ever. It remains one of the smartest buildings on record.

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June

British Land launched its 2020 sustainability strategy – Creating Places People Prefer. The company states that this marks a shift from minimising impacts and managing risks, to creating outstanding places that make a positive difference to everyday lives.

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June

JLL published its Big Eight for UK Real Estate. This forward-looking research reveals eight sustainability trends expected to disrupt and dominate the future of real estate. Earlier the same year, JLL appointed a UK Community Manager to develop and roll out its first comprehensive community strategy.

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September

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen Group, after discovering that the German automaker had faked emissions testing. Volkswagen became the target of regulatory investigations in multiple countries and its stock price plummeted.

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October

The launch of the green roof, by Channel 4 presenter Jon Snow, marks the first pocket of new green space to be delivered by The Crown Estate as part of Wild West End (a partnership between London property owners) to promote ecology in the heart of London’s built environment.

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December

The genuinely ground-breaking Paris climate change agreement, signed by 195 nations, aimed to limit global warming to no more than 2°C. JLL attended the talks and signed the first ever building and real estate climate declaration, calling attention to the role of the building sector in limiting climate change. Also in 2015, the UN’s 193 member states adopted a new Sustainable Development Agenda, with 17 global goals at its core.

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March

A new NASA study found that the recent drought that began in 1998 in the Eastern Mediterranean region (comprising Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey) is likely to be the worst it has experienced in 900 years.

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May

Berkeley Group unveiled its landmark plan to become the first carbon positive house builder in 2018. It aims to achieve this feat by delivering a 10% reduction in carbon emissions per person, while setting an internal carbon price; the funds from which will be used to offset more than the remaining carbon emissions.

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June

Land Securities becomes the first property company in the UK to switch to 100% renewable electricity and later commits to ambitious science-based carbon reduction target.

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September

JLL earned a place on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America.

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September

JLL's #cantbelieveisaidthat video campaign, which challenges unconscious bias in the workplace, picked up another award – this time from the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA).

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2017

Donald Trump was inaugurated in as the 45th President of the United States, instigating widespread unrest amongst green groups over his scepticism towards climate change.

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2017

JLL jumped 115 places on Stonewell’s annual Workplace Equality Index making it the number one firm for LGBT inclusivity in the property and built environment sector. The index is a powerful benchmarking tool which measures how inclusive employers are for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. JLL’s improvement in this well regarded list is testament to the hard work of our Building Pride Network in raising awareness of LGBT issues through various events and campaigns.

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2018

The minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) introduced in 2015 will make it illegal to renew or grant new leases for properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating below E, from 1 April 2018.

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2019

By 2019, TH Real Estate aims to screen every property acquisition globally for sustainability risk, as part of their Tomorrow’s World sustainability approach.

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2020

The EU will see if it has achieved its 20-20-20 targets: a 20% cut in emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 (compared with 1990); a 20% increase in the share of renewables in the energy mix; and a 20% cut in energy consumption.

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2020

British Land aims to reduce the embodied carbon of its projects over £50m by 15% per square metre compared to 2015.

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2020

Aviva is targeting £2.5 billion investments in low carbon infrastructure by 2020, while AXA is aiming to invest €3 billion in green investments, mainly in clean technology, green infrastructure and green bonds.

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2020

Land Securities aims to pay everyone working on their behalf – within an environment they control – at least the Living Wage.

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2021

Through real estate led investments Legal & General Capital plans to invest in major schemes in at least ten UK cities by 2021.

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2023

The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) introduced in 2015 will be extended to cover all leases, including existing leases.

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2030

Hammerson has committed to achieving net positive by 2030 in the four areas where it has the greatest material impacts and therefore the greatest opportunities to drive change. These impact areas are carbon, water, resource use and socio-economic.

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2040

Majid Al Futtaim is addressing its material environmental impacts and is aiming to becoming Net Positive for their operational and tenant water use and carbon emissions by 2040.

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Our Transforming Real Estate campaign celebrates the achievements of both JLL and the industry over the past 20 years. As industry leaders, our insights and advice will help you navigate and benefit from a more sustainable future.

Contact us to find out about how we are transforming the real estate industry and how we can help you.

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Tell us about your company’s ambitions and targets, from 2017 to 2040, and we’ll review before adding to the timeline.

*If you wish to provide a supporting image, please email it to marilyn.roberts@eu.jll.com