OUR ENHANCED APPROACH

AN ENHANCED APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

SINCE PUBLISHING OUR LAST STATEMENT OF STEWARDSHIP,

Crescent Communities has been working to develop a company-wide Environmental Sustainability Business Model. The broad goal of this effort is to build prosperous and healthy communities within the ecological limits of our planet.

The development of this Business Model, still ongoing, uses a fact-based approach that began with assessing our current state, benchmarking best practices, and building out a framework for the successful implementation of this approach consistent with third-party reporting standards.

Long a champion of sustainable development, the team recognizes the increasingly important role that we as developers play in the reduction of carbon emissions and mitigation of climate change.

In order to strengthen our ability to do that, in 2020 we began to implement a system of tools that are robust enough to enable the collection of environmental sustainability metrics. These tools will allow us to measure our impact in terms of energy, water, and waste. This is a critical first step in our ongoing commitment to reducing these impacts over time and to report our progress to all external stakeholders within the Annual Statement of Stewardship.

We have begun to implement the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager as our system of record for energy, water, and waste across all platforms enabling us to track, report, and improve:

• Energy Use Intensity (EUI) – An indicator of the energy efficiency of a building’s design and/or operations. EUI is expressed as energy per square foot per year.

• Water Use Intensity (WUI) – How much water a building requires during years of occupation and use. WUI is expressed in gallons per square foot per year.

• Waste Diversion – The process of diverting waste from landfills through source reduction, reuse and recycling, and other innovative methods.

SPECIFIC CREDITS IN ENERGY, WATER, AND WASTE WILL BE REQUIRED OF ALL GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS ACROSS ALL PROJECT TYPES AND PLATFORMS. EXAMPLES INCLUDE (BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO):

ENERGY

• Integrative design process • Energy modeling • Commissioning • Exceed relevant energy codes or standards

• Minimum energy use intensity postoccupancy • High-efficiency equipment and appliances • Operational energy efficiency monitoring

WATER

• Indoor water efficiency • Outdoor water efficiency • Minimum water use intensity postoccupancy • Drip/smart irrigation • Drought tolerant/lowwater landscaping • High-efficiency fixtures • Operational water efficiency monitoring

WASTE

• Construction waste signage • Diversion rate requirements • Education of employees/contractors on waste management • Targets for waste stream recovery, reuse and recycling • Waste management plans

While we identified the tools and strategies necessary to report our progress, data from 2021 will serve as a baseline from which improvement over time will be measured. We look forward to sharing this data and our progress in forthcoming editions of the Statement of Stewardship.

Reducing Carbon. Building Value.

Crescent Communities is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance. A global alliance of leading real estate owners, investors, and strategic partners, ULI Greenprint is committed to improving the environmental performance of the global real estate industry.