BITC names JLL ‘Responsible Business Champion’ in 2020 Awards
Recognising firm’s environmental leadership across UK
JLL has been named a Responsible Business Champion in the 2020 Business in the Community (BITC) Responsible Business Awards which recognise the contribution of companies that put social and environmental concerns at the heart of their strategy.
JLL was recognised in the Environmental Leadership award category alongside four other companies: Lavazza Professional UK, Northumbrian Water, Sodexo and Octopus Energy. The judges cited JLL’s ambitious UK net zero carbon commitment; its long-standing UK sustainable achievements for clients and in its operations; its global science-based carbon target and its work on the circular economy as factors which had contributed to its win.
Sophie Walker, UK head of sustainability at JLL, said: "To be recognised for our long-standing environmental leadership, alongside some of the UK’s most well-known businesses, is a fantastic achievement and testament to the commitment of our people in striving for sustainable change. Whilst Covid-19 continues to test the resilience of every organisation, now more than ever we want to be a force for good in reimagining a sustainable, just world for our clients and our communities.”
With buildings accounting for 40% of carbon emissions, last year JLL took a leadership position by committing to making net zero carbon mainstream across the UK property industry. Through this commitment JLL is focused on spearheading the transition to a net zero carbon-built environment through our work with 4000 clients and many thousands of buildings in the UK.
JLL also became the first professional services firm to set an ambitious UK target pledging that all it 25 UK workplaces will be net zero by 2030. Through this target it will avert 1,300 tonnes of carbon and reduce its embodied carbon by half.
JLL’s own net zero commitment supports and underpins the company’s efforts in the UK to meet JLL’s global science-based carbon emission target to help keep a rise in global temperatures to the 1.5 ºC ambition of the Paris Agreement. This global target aims to cut emissions from its operations by almost 70% by 2034 and reduce emissions from properties it manages on behalf of clients by 53% per square foot over the same period.
For many years, JLL has embedded environmental leadership across every corner of its business and has worked with clients including Hammerson and Great Portland Estates to develop their net positive and net zero carbon strategies. JLL’s advice and work with lifestyle and retail conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim helped create the first ever net positive strategy for the Middle East. JLL continues to share its thought leadership on net zero carbon delivery with clients and to advocate for effective net zero carbon legislation to government.
JLL works to accelerate wider change within the industry via collaboration with its partners, including the CBI, the British Property Federation, the UK Green Building Council, the Better Buildings Partnership and BITC itself. JLL has also led by example in its UK operations, already achieving a 37% reduction in energy use across all its UK workplaces and 93% renewable electricity in 2019 and has recently opened a circular office exemplar in its new Manchester office.
Amanda Mackenzie OBE, chief executive at Business in the Community, added: "Huge congratulations to JLL and our other responsible business Champions. In one of the most challenging years yet for responsible businesses, it is a comfort to know that there are organisations like this, whose clear purpose and powerful leadership can set an example to their supply chain and the industry at large.
“Our 2020 awards may not have been business as usual, but they leave us in no doubt that the UK has everything that it needs to build back responsibly.”
Nearly 100 companies entered this year’s Responsible Business Awards, which are run annually by Business in the Community, the UK charity created nearly 40 years ago by HRH The Prince of Wales to champion responsible business. The entries were considered by teams of independent assessors, experts in the respective award categories, and who picked 34 finalists. Given the extradentary circumstances presented by Covid-19, BITC’s Board and Executive team felt that it would not be appropriate to judge entries submitted before the global crisis or lift one company above another. Therefore, this year, BiTC is recognising the leadership and excellence of all its finalists under the title of BITC’s 2020 Responsible Business Champions.
JLL’s UK Sustainability Highlights and JLL’s Global Sustainability Report provides insight into what it achieved in 2019 and the progress the business is making towards its goals. For more information read here.
About JLL
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. JLL shapes the future of real estate for a better world by using the most advanced technology to create rewarding opportunities, amazing spaces and sustainable real estate solutions for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $18.0 billion, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 94,000 as of March 31, 2020. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.