Environmental Stewardship

Environmental Stewardship

A Plan for Our Planet

Net-zero operational carbon by 2040
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We’re committed to improving the built environment for people and the planet.

Our vision is to be the best real estate investor, partner, and manager in the world. We work to benefit people and communities by investing in, developing, and managing buildings that create a vibrant sense of place.

Our Commitments to Support the Environment

Hines will focus on enhancing our sustainability policy by prioritizing and executing on our commitments according to impact and urgency.

  1. Reduce operational carbon through design

  2. Reduce embodied carbon through our design and construction process

  3. Leverage green and healthy building certifications

  4. Define Net Zero for Hines and set benchmarks for progress

  5. Conduct indoor air quality (IAQ) research that furthers our innovation and enhances our buildings

Partner with us and become a leader in Embodied Carbon

We are giving back to the commercial real estate industry and helping our partners with their own sustainability goals by widely sharing our Hines Embodied Carbon Reduction Guide

ESG Leadership in the Built Environment

We’ve endeavored to bring the most responsible, sustainable practices to Hines projects. We’re proud to be on the leading edge of the green-building and well-building movements, and we will continue to honor our founder’s legacy by setting a high bar for ESG policies and practices across our industry.

Measuring our ESG Performance

Responsible Development & Management

We know real estate development, engineering, and management from the inside out. Our breadth of expertise, data-driven focus on continuous improvement, and commitment to firm-wide collaboration enables us to approach ESG strategically and holistically and address real-world challenges — from indoor air quality to carbon emissions to occupant well-being in buildings — with innovative, scalable solutions.

Conceptual Construction

Our Conceptual Construction Group supports Hines regional development groups across the globe and plays a pivotal role in setting and reaching our ESG goals. This team of engineers, designers, and hospitality specialists understands the ESG opportunities and constraints at every phase of design preconstruction and anticipates how decisions made at one stage of development will impact others down the road.

Meet the Conceptual Construction group

Engineering

Hines leads the commercial real estate industry in engineering excellence, operational efficiency and energy management. Renowned for pioneering innovative procedures and cutting-edge building systems, the firm continues to initiate new and better ways to maximize building performance, minimize cost and preserve the environment. The firm consistently achieves below-average operating costs, superior tenant satisfaction ratings and extraordinarily high retention rates.

Property Management

Hines has managed properties since our firm’s beginning. We are committed to the highest ESG standards in every building we own or manage for third parties and offer unparalleled service and operational excellence. Hines leverages global knowledge and deep real estate expertise into management strategies that are efficient and effective in the present and ensure the buildings we manage are sustainable and resilient far into the future.

Integrated Facilities Management

Hines works with some of the world’s most interesting companies to co-create exceptional experiences for their employees and prioritize sustainability, health, and well-being in the workplace. We build strong relationships with our clients, and our facilities managers are deeply embedded in their spaces. We sit on their sustainability councils and manage and influence things like energy efficiency, water consumption, and waste diversion.

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

Hines Engineers Around the World

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Partnering to Build a Better World

Through our history of partnerships with industry leaders, Hines has helped pioneer sustainability in real estate from the beginning. As early as 1978, Hines engineers were tracking energy use in our buildings to identify ways to lower consumption, and in 1992—before government regulations were in place—we developed air-quality guidelines for our buildings that helped shape the certification programs of today.

U.S. Green Building Council and LEED®

In 1998, Hines collaborated with USGBC to formalize the energy-efficiency standards we’d set forth in our own buildings, helping to create what is now the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program.

International Green Building Organizations

Hines has become involved in green-building certification programs across the globe. These include the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), the Green Building Council Brasil, and more.

Urban Land Institute

Hines has been a longtime supporter of ULI. Several Hines leaders helped to develop ULI’s sustainability programs, including the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance and the ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition

ENERGY STAR®

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program is the leading benchmarking and tracking system for the commercial real estate sector in the U.S. We work closely with the EPA to learn about emerging energy initiatives and products.

IWBI / WELL

In 2018, Hines became a keystone member of the International Well Building Institute’s WELL Certification Program, which aims to enhance human health and wellness in buildings. WELL focuses on seven primary categories: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind.

Well Living Lab

Hines aims to maximize the health, happiness and productivity of our employees, tenants and partners. That is why we became a founding alliance member of the Well Living Lab. The Lab is the first research institution of its kind—dedicated solely to understanding how indoor environments shape our health.

Fitwel

Fitwel addresses health impacts, behaviors, and risks associated with the built environment. Hines achieved its first certification in 2019.

Leading Our Environmental Initiatives

Sustainability in Practice

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