JLL Launches Non-Profit Aimed at Mitigating Climate Change

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With a continued focus on a greener future, JLL has launched the JLL Foundation, a non-profit that aims to make an impact on environmental sustainability by investing in startups dedicated to the cause.

Together with Good Machine, a venture studio dedicated to a sustainable future, the JLL Foundation will offer support to organizations working to mitigate climate change in the built environment. The non-profit will offer zero-interest recoverable loans while reinvesting the returned funds.

Grantees, that have received financing from the foundation include:

• BabylonGardens, a Greek innovation lab creating green roofs and walls in urban areas from locally recycled plastic
• Carbonwave, which uses Sargassum seaweed to develop products used in soil and ocean restoration, while eliminating micro-plastic waste
• Re:Dish, a service that cleans and sanitizes reusable containers, thus helping to eliminate single-use items for a wide variety of clients
• RedWorks, provides a 3D printer dubbed In-Situ Additive Construction (ISAC), which is able to produce onsite building materials from available soil and sand.

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The partnership will also promote innovative solutions by building out a network of co-investors with the same goals, therefore improving coordination and accelerating efforts to minimize climate change.

Sustainability within the commercial real estate sector

The JLL Foundation’s objective in tackling climate-related concerns over the next decades aligns with JLL’s goal of shepherding the real estate sector toward a greener future, JLL CEO Christian Ulbrich said in prepared remarks.

Based on JLL data, the company is one of the more than 150 real estate firms, committed to reducing their carbon footprint and achieving net-zero by 2050, a target consistent with the Paris Agreement. To start, JLL plans to reduce its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by 51 percent until 2030.

Other companies take different routes toward sustainability. Stream Realty Partners teamed up with Catalyze to create on-site green energy products across Stream’s 40 million-square-foot industrial development pipeline. The partnership will set up electric vehicle charging stations as well as solar and battery storage projects.

Embodying the “think globally, act locally” approach, USAA Real Estate and Seefried Industrial Properties used sustainable building materials in the construction of a 161,000-square-foot warehouse within Southfield Park 35 in Dallas. This approach will reduce the building’s carbon impact by more than 45 percent.