Environmental
We are committed to being a net lease leader in environmental sustainability over the long term.
Sustainability Objectives
Implementing Technology
We are focused on implementing technology to build and deploy scalable systems to collect and analyze tenant emissions data, which allow us to quantify our global GHG emissions and set carbon reduction targets.
Tenant Engagement
W. P. Carey has always taken a proactive approach to managing our portfolio, with our Asset Management department structured around tenant relationships. As a result, the team develops long-term relationships with tenant management teams, providing a direct and ongoing dialogue about the tenant’s business, including sustainability.
Sustainability Projects
Our sustainability projects fall within three key areas: renewable energy opportunities, building energy retrofits, and opportunities and green-building certifications. We believe that improving the quality and sustainability of our assets increases renewal probabilities, deepens tenant relationships and increases the overall value of our portfolio.
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.