BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JBG SMITH, (NYSE: JBGS), a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market, today announced it has achieved carbon neutrality across its entire 16.1 million square foot operating portfolio. Building on this accomplishment, JBG SMITH intends for its properties to maintain carbon neutral operations annually, allowing the company to reduce its environmental footprint while also supporting the development of renewable energy technologies that prevent carbon from entering the atmosphere.
“Achieving carbon neutrality across our operating portfolio provides JBG SMITH with a strong and compelling competitive advantage. Our office, residential, and retail customers increasingly demand this from their real estate space and service partners and our investors expect that we are doing all that we can to address this looming and critical threat,” said Matt Kelly, CEO of JBG SMITH. “Our collective actions over the next decade are essential in offsetting the current carbon emission trajectory and, through sustainable best practices, JBG SMITH remains committed to positively impacting the communities we serve at every level.”
To establish carbon neutral operations, JBG SMITH purchased verified carbon offsets for scope one carbon emissions and renewable energy credits (RECs) for scope two electrical consumption. JBG SMITH’s planned next step toward long-term sustainability includes the development of an offsite renewable energy strategy, which is expected to replace a significant portion of annual REC purchases and bring additional renewables to the national electrical grid.
To maintain carbon neutrality, JBG SMITH plans to:
- Drive down energy consumption across its existing portfolio
- Reduce anticipated energy consumption and embodied carbon for its development pipeline
- Deploy onsite solar where most impactful
- Explore offsite solar opportunities and bring additional renewables to the national electrical grid
- Address the remainder of carbon emissions with verified carbon offsets and renewable energy credits (RECs)
“The implementation of decarbonization strategies that address real, permanent business change and future innovation is critical to maintaining a carbon neutral portfolio,” said Kim Pexton, Vice President of Sustainability at JBG SMITH. “We view the purchase of RECs and verified carbon offsets for scope one and two as an immediate action we can take as we develop and implement a more robust strategy to ensure compatibility with a net zero economy.”
About JBG SMITH
JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in and develops a dynamic portfolio of mixed-use properties in the high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Over half of JBG SMITH’s holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, where it serves as the exclusive developer for Amazon’s new headquarters, and where Virginia Tech’s planned new $1 billion Innovation Campus is located. JBG SMITH's portfolio currently comprises 17.2 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets at share, 98% of which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 17.0 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit www.jbgsmith.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They represent our intentions, plans, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Consequently, the future results of JBG SMITH Properties ("JBG SMITH") may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. You can find many of these statements by looking for words such as "approximate", "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "proposed," "would," "should," "may," or similar expressions in this press release. We also note the following forward-looking statements: our intention and plans to maintain carbon neutrality annually and the development of an offsite renewable energy strategy. Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of these and our other forward-looking statements and plans are beyond our ability to control or predict. These factors include, among others: adverse economic conditions in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, the timing of and costs associated with development and property improvements, financing commitments, and general competitive factors. For further discussion of factors that could materially affect the outcome of our forward-looking statements and other risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" and the Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and other periodic reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For these statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to our forward-looking statements after the date hereof.
