Environment

Environmental Stewardship
Policy Effective May 31, 2007

• Environmental Media Releases

Purpose
Our industry leadership carries with it an ethical responsibility to our clients, employees, shareholders, communities and society at large.  Corporate Citizenship and living up to our core values of Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence (RISE) are fundamental goals of CB Richard Ellis Group and its worldwide affiliates.  Consistent with these goals, CB Richard Ellis is committed to becoming the industry leader in the area of environmental sustainability. 

We are committed to minimizing our environmental impact, and to assisting our clients in doing the same at their properties.  Through our 24,000 employees, CB Richard Ellis delivers a wide range of commercial real estate services to clients throughout the world and in so doing, we recognize that our business operations create an environmental impact.   We recognize our responsibility to be a steward of the environment and improve the quality of life for our employees and for everyone who works at or visits our facilities.  In addition, CB Richard Ellis provides facilities and asset management services for clients owning or occupying more than 1.7 billion square feet of buildings globally, and supports thousands of clients in procurement, disposition and building space for occupancy or investment.  We will enhance the services we provide our clients and collaborate with them to optimize the performance and reduce the environmental impact of their properties.  

Policy
It has always been our policy to observe environmental best practice in our activities, and to observe both the letter and the spirit of environmental laws and regulations.  With this Policy, CBRE is strengthening and formalizing its own environmental commitment. 

To address our direct operational footprint we will:

• Identify and measure the carbon footprint of our operations and facilities and will set achievable targets to reduce it each year.  We will aim to be carbon neutral by 2010 through targeted in-house carbon footprint reductions, indirect emission reduction commitments from our suppliers and, if necessary thereafter, through carbon offsets. 
• Establish minimum environmental standards for the relocation or refurbishment of our own facilities based upon current programs such as LEED, BREEAM and/or Green Star. 
• Seek to reduce our energy, water and other resource consumption, reduce waste and use renewable or recyclable materials.  We will achieve and measure our reductions through the implementation of Environmental Management Systems in each of our global regions. 
• Adopt procurement standards that incorporate environmental best practice for the procurement of furniture, paper and other office equipment. In support of this, we will work with our contractors and suppliers to ensure that they understand how they can improve their environmental standards and add value to CB Richard Ellis’s environmental performance.

In our client service we will:

• Provide advice and services to our clients, encourage them and collaborate with them to adopt or enhance responsible environmental policies and practices with respect to their real estate.  Specifically, we will engage 100% of our property and facilities management and brokerage clients in proactive discussions about environmental issues, with a goal of the vast majority of our facilities and property management clients implementing energy saving technology and practices at their locations by 2010, thereby helping them reduce their green house gas emissions at the properties and corporate facilities we manage.

Training
We will develop and implement ongoing training programs to support our Policy and raise environmental awareness among our employees and business partners. 

Health, Safety & Security
CB Richard Ellis is fully committed to achieving the industry’s best standards of health and safety management and performance in order to safeguard our employees, clients, tenants, contractors and any other persons that may be affected by our actions and activities.  As an organization, we will adopt policies around these objectives and will ensure that sufficient resources are provided to ensure effective management and implementation of our health and safety arrangements.

Governance
The CB Richard Ellis Board of Directors has approved this Policy and has vested in the CEO responsibility for implementation and compliance, establishing policy and strategic direction on environmental issues and monitoring management performance against them.  In addition, CB Richard Ellis acknowledges its responsibility to demonstrate best working practice to our clients and other business partners. It is important, therefore, that each of our employees takes a personal responsibility for supporting this Policy and providing appropriate guidance to our clients and other business partners. 

Reporting
We will regularly review and report on our environmental policies and targets to ensure they represent best practice and a culture of continuous improvement.  We will develop an annual Corporate Citizenship Report which will outline our goals and our progress in achieving them.  We will also launch an environmental section on our website.  It will provide access to this Policy and to periodic updating on our progress in implementation.

Reporting on our operational footprint will include reference to baseline data and numerical targets as they are established. We will refer to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for guidance as we develop our reporting.

Policy Engagement/Public Consultation
CB Richard Ellis has consulted with a range of external groups in the development of this Policy.  Going forward, we will participate in the policy debate regarding effective solutions to climate change that will facilitate our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.  We will seek input from and contribute to environmental discussions through meetings and open dialogue with other companies, institutions, shareholders, clients, non-governmental organizations, academia and government.  We will continue to look to external partners for their input to the effective implementation of our goals.

Compliance with Laws and Regulations
CB Richard Ellis is subject to a wide variety of national, international and local environmental regulations, policies and guidelines.  It is the policy of CB Richard Ellis to comply fully with all prevailing environmental laws and regulations throughout our international network of offices and to incorporate the spirit of environmental best practices into our business culture and activities.