JPMorgan Chase has joined New York City’s Mayor’s Carbon Challenge to Commercial Offices, an initiative to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from some of the largest commercial building owners and tenants in the city during the next 10 years. With 9.4 million square feet of office space in New York City, JPMorgan Chase is the largest participant.
The initiative is part of a larger program that engages private organizations and institutions to help meet the City’s PlaNYC target of reducing citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Each participant has agreed to track carbon emissions and create an emissions-reduction strategy.
“The Carbon Challenge is an essential partnership between the city and our businesses, universities, and organizations who share our commitment to a greener, greater New York,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “I want to applaud the commitment of JPMorgan Chase and the other companies making the Carbon Challenge pledge, as well as the universities and hospitals that have already taken steps to become more efficient.”
The Mayor’s Carbon Challenge aligns with JPMorgan Chase’s corporate sustainability efforts. In 2008, the firm committed to reducing its global greenhouse gas footprint 20 percent below 2005 levels by the end of 2012, and has set a new goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. In 2011, the renovation of JPMorgan Chase’s global headquarters achieved a LEED-Platinum rating—the highest possible—from the U.S. Green Building Council.
