Sustainability at NRDC

Our Approach

NRDC’s mission is to safeguard the earth. The Workplace Strategy team exemplifies that mission through green building leadership and sustainable operations.

NRDC provides an exemplary workplace that fosters a collaborative and inclusive culture, ensures the health of our staff and the resiliency of our spaces, and executes leading sustainability practices.

NRDC is committed to leading the green building industry through action.

We consider the planet, people, and profit to guide our decision making as we manage the daily operation of our offices and oversee capital projects. Ultimately, this work provides a space where our staff take on the important responsibility of tackling today’s most urgent sustainability issues.

31%

Carbon emissions

32%

Water consumption

1%

Oil consumption

16%

Renewable energy portion

27%

Waste to landfill

11%

Energy consumption

Workplace Strategy Team Mission

By prioritizing the planet and people, we foster a collaborative and inclusive workplace, inspiring our community to strive for a sustainable future.

Sustainability

Sustainability is at the core of all our capital projects and operations. We use a sustainability framework that examines environmental, social, and economic impact to guide decision making and measure success. We do this by establishing best practices for procurement, design and construction, waste management, and leveraging leading standards for building design and waste management.

Net Positive

Internally, we work to minimize and neutralize adverse environmental and social impacts while seeking rejuvenating solutions we can apply operationally. For example, all our offices are designed with nontoxic, low-waste products to decrease our environmental footprint while increasing occupant health and well-being. Externally, we aim to share best practices and create positive impacts within communities and global markets. For example, we are transparent with our operations—open-sourcing our guidelines, standards, and performance allows other organizations to learn from our strategies and scale sustainable solutions.

Office Management

We strive to maintain healthy and productive working environments that meet rigorous green building standards. We execute projects, like installing automatic dimming lighting systems and low-flow plumbing fixtures as well as implementing comprehensive waste stations, to drive our desired outcomes.

Our Visions

Our visions, highlighted in our Sustainable Operations Plan, represent NRDC’s ideals and serve as a guide for choosing current and future courses of action.

Eliminate Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Increase Water Efficiency
Achieve Zero Waste
Design for Healthy Buildings and People
Increase Education and Engagement

Our Progress

For nearly 40 years, NRDC has been leading the charge on green building adoption, successfully moving the industry forward.

Across our global operations, NRDC leverages widely respected sustainable building standards to ensure we are at the cutting edge of sustainable building practices. These standards drive progress towards our visions.

Our Offices

As of 2018, NRDC operates seven offices globally and cumulatively comprise more than 140,000 square feet.

72%

Bozeman

The Bozeman, Montana, office has diverted 72 percent of our waste from the landfill due to recycling and vermicomposting as of 2019.

History

Click on each date to learn more.

1970
1988
2004
2008
2011
2013
2014
2015
2016
2018
2018-2019
2021

1970
NRDC is founded by a group of law students and attorneys at the forefront of the environmental movement.
1988
Preceding the existence of any green building certification, the New York headquarters is built with principles that parallel Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) today.
2004
The Santa Monica, California, office becomes one of the first and highest-rated LEED Platinum–certified projects (LEED for New Construction v2).

The San Francisco office achieves LEED Gold (LEED ID+C Commercial Interiors v1).

NRDC begins purchasing carbon allowances.
2008
The 8th floor of the New York headquarters achieves the highest-rated LEED Platinum certification to date (51 of 59 points) under LEED for Commercial Interiors v2009.
2011
The Washington, D.C., office achieves LEED Platinum certification (ID+C Commercial Interiors v2009) in the top 10th percentile.
2013
The Beijing office achieves LEED Gold certification (ID+C Commercial Interiors v2009).

The Chicago office achieves Living Building Challenge v2.1 Petal Certification and LEED Platinum certification (Commercial Interiors v2009).

Heating oil in New York is switched to biodiesel.
2014
The renovated Beijing office achieves LEED Gold certification (Commercial Interiors v2009) and Living Building Challenge v2.1 Petal Certification, the first LBC project in China.

The New York office’s air barrier is sealed to close the equivalent of a 10-foot hole in the building envelope.
2015
New York starts purchasing off-site renewable electricity through an energy service company (ESCO) called Ethical Electric, effectively making the office net zero energy.
2016
The expansion of the Chicago and San Francisco offices achieves both Living Building Challenge v3.1 Petal Certification and LEED Gold certification (Commercial Interiors v4).
2018
The Santa Monica office reaches operational zero waste. NRDC defines zero waste as diverting 90 percent of the offices waste from incineration and landfills.
2018-2019
Protocols that guide design, construction, and internal operations of NRDC spaces are formalized, including design and construction protocols, furniture specification guidelines, a procurement policy, and a waste management plan.
2021
Region-specific water targets are established for each office.

Environmental Metrics Progress

Our staff utilizes emerging technologies, and cutting-edge resource efficiency and waste diversion strategies.

	% Change	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
Building Emissions Tons of CO2e	-31%	479	368	402	628	632	676	690
Electricity Consumption MWh	-11%	1309	1438	1295	1466	1459	1408	1472
Oil Consumption MWh	-1%	746	580	547	722	816	793	754
Renewable Energy Portion of Total Energy	16%	28%	44%	37%	13%	13%	0.70%	0.70%
Water Consumption Thousand Gallons	31%	1106	1115	1227	1283	1626	-	-
Waste to Landfill Kg	26%	4100	5715	6481	6532	5582	-	-
Waste and Recycling % Diverted from Landfill	-6%	78%	72%	73%	70%	72%	-	-

NRDC in the News

Our commitment to sustainability has been recognized by leading groups in the industry.

Honoring the Best

CoreNet Global News

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Sorting Out Our Recycling

Spectrum News In Focus

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How the NRDC Is Advocating for the Green Building Movement

gb&d Magazine

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Collaborations

NRDC aligns with organizations that share our mission to protect and restore our natural environment. We work side-by-side with our partners and are committed to transparency to help others reduce their footprint.

Approach to Partnerships

The Workplace Strategy team is meticulous in reviewing and deciding who to engage with for large and small endeavors alike, from the design teams working on our construction projects to selecting the vendors that provide our office services and supplies.

Our Focus

To address our environmental impact, social responsibility, and financial stability we develop partnerships. Collaborating with leaders in the field helps our organization progress more quickly towards our visions.

Partners

1988 - U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

USGBC developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system with assistance from NRDC. NRDC office space in New York, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Chicago,
2013 - BuildingOS

Real-time energy and water software monitoring in the New York, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing, and Washington, D.C., offices.
2014 - Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF)

NRDC purchases water restoration certificates from BEF to offset facilities’ water usage.
2016 - International Living Future Institute (ILFI)

ILFI created the Living Building Challenge, an international sustainable building certification program. NRDC offices in San Francisco and Chicago have achieved this certification.
2018 - TerraCycle

TerraCycle boxes provide a recycling option for items not typically accepted by municipal recycling and are available in all NRDC offices.
2018 - American Institute of Architects New York (AIANY)

NRDC was recognized as a participant of the AIA’s Zero Waste Challenge event, which helps reduce office waste generation and increase recycling.
2018 - Institute for Market Transformation (IMT)

IMT recognized NRDC as a Green Lease Leader for the organization’s forward-thinking and high-performance real estate portfolio.
2018 - World Green Building Council (WGBC)

NRDC has made the WGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, which challenges the organization to reach net zero operating emissions by 2030 and to advocate for all buildings to be net zero
2018 - Agendi

Agendi has verified NRDC’s annual carbon footprint and facilitated the organization’s carbon offset purchases in order to receive CO2-Neutral certification.
2018 - Red2Green

NRDC utilizes and provides additions to Red2Green’s software platform and comprehensive product library helping to ensure all spaces, including NRDC’s own, contain environmentally friendly, nontoxic
2019 - The Green Seal

The Green Seal Green Office Partnership Program is designed to guide offices to become more sustainable. NRDC has utilized this partnership to increase the use of products that contain no harmful