Environmental
We are committed to being a net lease leader in environmental sustainability over the long term.
Sustainability Objectives
Our Portfolio
6.1M
sq. ft. of green-certified buildings¹ ²
39%
of portfolio (by sq. ft.) under a green lease² ³
60%+
of tenants enrolled in electricity usage data reporting³ ⁴
¹ For a building to be considered “green-certified” under our investment criteria, it must at a minimum be certified by LEED, BREEAM or a similarly recognized organization or certification process. LEED™—an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design™—and its related logo are trademarks owned by the U.S. Green Building Council and are used with permission. Learn more at www.usgbc.org/LEED. BREEAM is a registered trademark of BRE (the Building Research Establishment Ltd. Community Trade Mark E5778551). The BREEAM marks, logos and symbols are the Copyright of BRE and are reproduced by permission.
² Portfolio information reflects pro rata ownership of real estate assets (excluding operating properties) as of March 31, 2026.
³ As a percentage of square footage.
⁴ Data as of December 31, 2024.
Emissions Reduction Target
Established a near-term reduction target for our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions
- Target: 34% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 market-based greenhouse gas emissions by 2028 from a 2023 base year⁵
- Aligned with the Paris Agreement and the Science Based Targets initiative ("SBTi")
⁵ We expect to achieve our target primarily through the purchase of unbundled, verifiable renewable energy certificates (RECs) or international equivalents, in conjunction with RECs generated from projects within our portfolio.
Scope 1 and 2 Emissions
- 2024 Scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions⁶ year-over-year change: -63%
- 2024 Scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions⁶ like-for-like change: -70%
- 2024 Energy intensity⁶ ⁷ year-over-year change: -5%
- 2024 Energy intensity⁶ ⁷ like-for-like change: -6%
⁶ Emissions and energy data were recalculated to reflect 2023 re-baseline following significant portfolio changes, per our baseline recalculation policy, which is aligned with the GHG Protocol.
⁷ Square footage in intensity metrics is adjusted to account for the period the asset was included in Scope 1 and 2.
Case Studies
PetSmart
Installation of direct-owned solar rooftop on a 620,000-square-foot facility in Arizona, following an initial sale-leaseback in 2001.
Healthcare Products Distributor
$17 million sale-leaseback of a 162,000-square-foot warehouse in the Chicago metropolitan area, with a follow-on rooftop solar system installation under a power purchase agreement (PPA).
Global IT Services Company
W. P. Carey completes the development of a 213,000-square-foot Class-A warehouse facility in the Atlanta metropolitan area—its first carbon-neutral construction initiative. The project was designed to minimize both operational and embodied carbon emissions.