Benchmarking

Built Environment
Benchmarking

ASAP provides a full spectrum of integrated Sustainability and Wellness benchmarking services. In addition to LEED and WELL Consulting, ASAP also provides consulting for the following certifications and benchmarking platforms; including, but not limited to:

Arc Skoru

Arc Skoru Inc is a technology company that is affiliated with Green Business Certification, Inc and the U.S. Green Building Council. Arc offers data-driven solutions and helps users achieve green building certification, improve individual building sustainability, manage complex portfolios and transform cities and communities. Arc powers next generation, performance-based rating systems, including LEED v4.1 O+M and LEED for Cities and Communities, and, is expanding to support many more performance-based solutions. GRESB participants can directly upload asset data to identify potential certifications and improve their GRESB scores. Reach out to ASAP to learn more about how we can help you use Arc in partnership with your sustainability and certification goals.

TRUE Certification

The TRUE certification program enables facilities to define, pursue and achieve their zero waste goals, cutting their carbon footprint and supporting public health. TRUE is a whole systems approach aimed at changing how materials flow through society, resulting in no waste. TRUE encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. TRUE promotes processes that consider the entire lifecycle of products used within a facility. With TRUE, a facility can demonstrate to the world what they’re doing to minimize their waste output. TRUE certified spaces are environmentally responsible, more resource efficient and help turn waste into savings and additional income streams. By closing the loop, they cut greenhouse gases, manage risk, reduce litter and pollution, reinvest resources locally, create jobs and add more value for their company and community. TRUE does not require big financial investments. TRUE implementation can be as simple as transforming trash bins into recycling bins and fostering a zero waste culture. ASAP works with one of the leading TRUE Advisors in the country. Learn how you can become a part of the Zero Waste Economy.

SITES®

SITES® is a sustainability-focused framework that ushers landscape architects, engineers and others toward practices that protect ecosystems and enhance the mosaic of benefits they continuously provide our communities, such as climate regulation, carbon storage and flood mitigation. SITES is the culmination of years of research and development by leading professionals in the fields of soil, water, vegetation, materials and human health.

Administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), SITES offers a comprehensive rating system designed to distinguish sustainable landscapes, measure their performance and elevate their value. SITES certification is for development projects located on sites with or without buildings—ranging from national parks to corporate campuses, streetscapes to homes, and more. SITES-certified landscapes help reduce water demand, filter and reduce stormwater runoff, provide wildlife habitat, reduce energy consumption, improve air quality, improve human health and increase outdoor recreation opportunities.

PEER

Advancing sustainable, resilient & reliable energy, PEER is the world’s first certification program that measures and improves power system performance and electricity infrastructure. Through certification, PEER recognizes industry leaders for improving efficiency, day-to-day reliability and overall resiliency when it comes to severe events, such as flooding and hurricanes. PEER is for all power systems and includes guidance for cities, utilities, campuses and transit. The PEER rating system evaluates a power system’s performance across categories:

Reliability
Operations, management and safety
Energy efficiency and environment
Grid services

EcoDistricts

For far too long, urban development has focused on real estate and infrastructure, rather than truly comprehensive investments that embrace the needs and challenges facing neighborhoods and cities. EcoDistricts is advancing a new model of urban development to empower just, sustainable, and resilient neighborhoods. Join us as we mobilize, empower and accelerate sustainable and equitable urban development leadership throughout North America and beyond.

To foster a new model of urban regeneration, EcoDistricts has created the Protocol: a comprehensive framework to guide urban and community development from planning to implementation. It is a powerful way to move projects from vision to reality, and puts equity, resilience and climate protection at the heart of every decision. ASAP has numerous EcoDistricts APs on our team ready to support you with your next project.

ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR is a voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that delivers environmental benefits and financial value through superior energy efficiency. Through ENERGY STAR, EPA partners with businesses and public-sector organizations to transform the way that commercial buildings and industrial plants use energy. Over more than 20 years, the ENERGY STAR Program for Commercial Buildings and Industrial Plants has helped these organizations save more than $192 billion in energy costs. Today, thousands of facility owners and managers—including 60 percent of the FORTUNE 100—use ENERGY STAR tools and resources to help them assess their energy performance, improve their efficiency, and earn recognition.

Commercial buildings and industrial plants are responsible for nearly half of the nation’s energy use and nearly half of its greenhouse gas emissions. Much of this energy is wasted through inefficiencies, but by adopting a strategic energy management approach through ENERGY STAR, it is possible to save energy, save money, and protect the environment.

EPA’s free online ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® tool is the industry standard for measuring and tracking energy performance within commercial buildings. In fact, the commercial buildings market has used Portfolio Manager to benchmark billions of square feet of commercial floor space across hundreds of thousands of buildings. The tool provides dozens of energy performance metrics, and some buildings can also receive a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score, which rates energy performance in comparison to similar buildings across the country. Learn more about benchmarking.

Tens of thousands of buildings and plants have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR since 1999. That means they’ve been verified to perform among the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide. On average, ENERGY STAR certified buildings use 35 percent less energy and generate 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than their peers. Learn more about ENERGY STAR certification.

Numerous independent studies have shown that ENERGY STAR certified buildings have lower operating costs, command higher rental rates, and have increased asset value. Learn more about the financial value of ENERGY STAR. Reach out to learn more about how ASAP can support your energy and benchmarking needs.

Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. LBC is a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification program that promotes the most advanced measurement of sustainability in the built environment. It can be applied to development at all scales, from buildings—both in new constructions and renovations—to infrastructure, landscapes, neighborhoods and communities.

The goal of the Living Building Challenge is to encourage the creation of a regenerative built environment. The challenge is an attempt to raise the bar for building standards from doing less harm to contributing positively to the environment. It “acts to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions we seek” by pushing architects, contractors, and building owners out of their comfort zones.

Living Building Challenge comprises seven performance areas: site, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. Each performance area has its own intention and are subdivided into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence. Whether you are looking for Living Building certification, Petal certification or Net Zero certification, reach out to ASAP to learn more about how you can go above and beyond LEED with the LBC.

Corporate Social/Sustainability Responsibility (CSR) reporting

According to the Global Reporting Initiative, a Corporate Social or Sustainability Responsibility Report (CSR) can be defined as:

A sustainability report is a report published by a company or organization about the economic, environmental and social impacts caused by its everyday activities. A sustainability report also presents the organization’s values and governance model, and demonstrates the link between its strategy and its commitment to a sustainable global economy.

The goal of the CSR is to provide transparency in the Organizations’ activities with measurable opportunities to improve them ongoingly. This is accomplished in two ways:

First, CSR reports support Organizations in measuring their impact on the environment, on society and on the economy, also known as the Triple-Bottom-Line.

Additionally, CSR reports allow Organizations to communicate their goals and improvements externally to stakeholders including investors, employees, NGOs, and other interested parties. ASAP has worked with many of our Clients to create CSRs and we can help you as well.

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Reporting

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting refers to the three pillars in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or business. Though ESG reporting has its root in Corporate Social/Sustainability Responsibility (CSR), the two are different. While CSR reporting aims to hold Organizations accountable, ESG reporting makes the Organizations’ efforts measurable. You can’t move what you can’t measure. If you are ready to start measuring your ESG efforts, reach out to ASAP to learn more.

GRESB

GRESB is the ESG Benchmark for Real Assets. GRESB was established in 2009 by a group of large pension funds who wanted to have access to comparable and reliable data on the ESG performance of their investments. In the intervening years, GRESB has grown to become the leading Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments across the world. GRESB assesses and benchmarks the ESG performance of real assets, providing standardized and validated data to the capital markets.

The Assessments are guided by what investors and the industry consider to be material issues in the sustainability performance of real asset investments, and are aligned with international reporting frameworks, such as GRI, PRI, SASB, DJSI, TCFD recommendations, the Paris Climate Agreement, UN SDGs, region and country specific disclosure guidelines.
Each year reporting to the GRESB Assessments generates the following ESG benchmarks for the industry:

Real Estate Benchmark
Real Estate Development Benchmark
Infrastructure Fund Benchmark
Infrastructure Asset Benchmark

GRESB ESG data covers US $5.3 trillion in real estate and infrastructure value and is used by more than 100 institutional and financial investors to make decisions that are leading to a more sustainable real asset industry. Assessment participants receive comparative business intelligence on where they stand against their peers, a roadmap with the actions they can take to improve their ESG performance and a communication platform to engage with investors.

Investors use the ESG data and GRESB’s analytical tools to monitor their investments, engage with their managers, and make decisions that lead to a more sustainable and resilient real asset industry. ASAP’s Clients are some of the leaders in GRESB nationally. Reach out to ASAP to learn more about how your Sustainability/LEED and Wellness/WELL goals can support GRESB and how GRESB can support your goals.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. ASAP’s team works intimately with 16 of the 17 SDGs through our work and volunteering. The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, including the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. ASAP’s team works intimately with 16 of the 17 SDGs through our work and volunteering and we are passionate about their implementation in all that we do.

Benchmarking

Built Environment
Benchmarking

Arc Skoru

TRUE Certification

SITES®

PEER

EcoDistricts

ENERGY STAR

Living Building Challenge

Corporate Social/Sustainability Responsibility (CSR) reporting

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Reporting

GRESB

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)

Explore Other Services

Say Hello.

Join Our Community for Monthly Updates

Benchmarking

Built EnvironmentBenchmarking

Arc Skoru

TRUE Certification

SITES®

PEER

EcoDistricts

ENERGY STAR

Living Building Challenge

Corporate Social/Sustainability Responsibility (CSR) reporting

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Reporting

GRESB

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)

Explore Other Services

Say Hello.

Join Our Community for Monthly Updates

Built Environment
Benchmarking