The California Sustainability Alliance Launches Green Leases Toolkit

The California Sustainability Alliance has announced the release of the Green Leases Toolkit – a framework for leased office building owners and tenants in the state of California to work together to reduce the environmental footprint of their facilities.

The Green Leases Toolkit marks a significant shift in the way we think about ‘greening’ leased business space, and gives landlords and tenants of existing space the opportunity to experience many of the same ‘green’ benefits found in new construction projects, including operating cost savings, enhanced productivity, a healthier environment, and increased asset values.

“Green Leasing” is much more than the negotiation and drafting of lease language – it is the integration of energy and water efficiency, emissions reduction, waste minimization and other sustainability objectives throughout the entire commercial leasing process. The integration of sustainability objectives throughout the leasing process includes service provider selection, needs analysis and communication, request for proposal (RFP) and letter of intent (LOI) drafting, site due diligence, site selection, and ultimately, the negotiation and drafting of realistic and enforceable lease language.

The California Sustainability Alliance's Green Leases Toolkit is designed to assist tenants and landlords with the greening of leasehold sites by incorporating specific tools and work flow into the leasing process, and supports tenants and landlords in:

• educating their respective organizations
• developing specific green leasing policies and requirements
• communicating policies and market requirements
• measuring and comparing the “green attributes” of various buildings
• developing specific lease language

With approximately 90% of all office and retail space in the state of California being leased (of which, only 6% of the space is presently certified “green”), the Green Leases Toolkit provides the opportunity for significant, currently untapped savings of energy, water and waste in the state of California.

View the tools included in the Green Leases Toolkit by visiting the California Sustainability Alliance’s website.

For additional information about the Green Leases Toolkit please contact the Alliance’s Green Buildings Program Managers, Craig McDonald and Sean Ivery, at
leasegreen 'AT' sustainca 'DOT' org.

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