Brookfield set out to establish a new kind of baseline for their Shanghai office's interior fit-out, one in which all high-impact sustainability data is measured and reported, starting from the materials used in construction to daily operations. The Brookfield Shanghai office not only targeted net-zero for operating carbon (Scope 1 & 2) in a downtown location, it also targeted embodied carbon neutrality in the office's construction.

To provide guidance and third-party validation, Brookfield leveraged the RESET Standard, a data-driven standard for health and sustainability in real estate, enabling Brookfield to measure performance in ways that were previously impossible, pursuing a total of six RESET performance certifications, including Air, Water, and Energy for operational, and Carbon, Circularity, and Health for embodied.

As one of the world’s largest landlords and investors in renewable energy, Brookfield has the opportunity to affect positive change at a large scale for one of its most important stakeholders: tenants. Their new office design serves as an example of what is possible for their tenants.

Operating Carbon and Net-Zero

The first target is net-zero operating carbon. One of the critical pieces to making net-zero operating carbon possible is the addition of solar panels on the roof of One East, Brookfield’s flagship property in Shanghai, in which the new office resides. An uncommon sight in most city centers, the panels were installed all across the rooftop of One East's mall, generating renewable energy that can be used locally.

Image above: Solar panels on the roof of the One East Mall in Shanghai.

The second critical piece to making net zero operating carbon possible is data tracking. Standardized and audited real-time monitoring was set up according to the RESET Energy Standard, tracking direct energy use by the office and the energy produced by the installed solar panels, with data automatically collected at least once every 30 minutes.

Image above: The installed solar panels make net-zero carbon tangible for occupants by putting on display its source of renewable energy. Surplus energy that is not used for Brookfield Office's net-zero operating target will be used to help other tenants reduce their scope 1 & 2 emissions.

With the two critical pieces in place, net zero for operating carbon is achieved when the monthly energy used by the office is less than the monthly energy produced by the solar panels. The Brookfield office has been net zero for operating carbon on Scope 1 & 2 emissions since its first day of use.

Brookfield's office is awarded RESET Energy Accredited and RESET Net Zero for Operating Carbon for Commercial Interiors.

Image above: Certificate for achieving RESET Energy Accredited and for achieving the Special Target of RESET Net Zero for Operating Carbon.

In addition to the continuous monitoring of energy, Brookfield also went ahead and established standardized and audited real-time monitoring of indoor air quality and water use and quality. Indoor air quality monitoring according to the RESET Air Standard is used to guarantee the best air for the health of the employees. Water use and water quality monitoring according to the RESET Water Standard allows for the tracking of total water consumption along with the water quality of the filtered drinking water that is offered in the office, significantly lowering the number of water bottles used in the office.

Brookfield's office is awarded RESET Air Accredited and RESET Water Accredited for Commercial Interiors.

Image above: Certificate for RESET Air Accredited and for RESET Water Accredited.

Embodied Carbon and Carbon Neutrality

For Brookfield, addressing operational carbon was not enough. Brookfield took the next step to quantify their embodied carbon. Leveraging the RESET Embodied Carbon Standard, carbon data for all the materials and products used during the new construction of the office was quanitified based on life cycle assessment with pre-set categories of parameters.

Serving as its own tenant, Brookfield chose to lead by example by taking it a step further, measuring not only embodied carbon emissions, but also embodied circularity and embodied health according to the RESET Embodied Circularity Standard and RESET Embodied Health Standard respectively, which unlocks further carbon reductions by taking into consideration the re-use and recyclability of the materials and products used in new construction while delivering a healthy office interior. All key materials were screened for harmful chemical content and/or emissions, setting up the office for a healthy office interior during operations with real-time monitoring, ensuring air quality and water quality are maintained within RESET Standard targets.

“For new construction, unlocking deep reductions in carbon emissions requires looking at carbon, circularity and health together. When materials are toxic, no one wants to reuse or recycle them, let alone biodegrade them. Circularity (reuse, recycling, regeneration) is then compromised and old products are wasted. Excess new products are then made and carbon emissions go up.”

- Raefer Wallis, Founder and CEO of RESET

RESET was used to measure, audit, and certify the embodied performance of the new office in construction, resulting in the following outcomes:

Embodied Carbon

• 41% reduction in carbon emissions from construction (compared to standard offices*)

Embodied Circularity

• 10% recycled content (4.0 times better than standard offices*)

• 34% recyclability or biodegradability at the end of life (5.9 times better than standard offices*)

• 22% total circularity (5.3 times better than standard offices*)

• Additionally, 73% of the furniture was reused from the previous office

Embodied Health

• 13% of all product chemistry was known and 100% free of red-listed chemicals (2.0 times better than standard offices*)

*Based on aggregated RESET project data.

Following the 41% reduction in embodied carbon, 100% of the remaining carbon emissions from new construction were then offset via China Carbon Emission Reduction (CCER) credits purchased and granted via the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE).

Brookfield's office is awarded RESET Embodied Accredited and RESET Carbon Neutral for Embodied Carbon for Commercial Interiors.

Image above: Certificate for RESET Materials Certified and for achieving the Special Target of RESET Carbon Neutral for Embodied Carbon.

As a result, the Brookfield office is one of the first in the world to attain Total Embodied Carbon Neutrality across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions for interior fit-out. The entire fit-out was completed at** a material cost 44% lower than similar offices.

Material Highlights - Top 8 Brands

To certify the embodied performance of a project, the embodied performance of each material had to be collected and reviewed with the RESET Embodied Score for Products. For further insight into the leading materials and products that helped the Brookfield office achieve these results, please see the top 8 brands behind the top 10 products below:

Milliken

Saint-Gobain

Porcelanosa

JEB

Steelcase

Haworth

Vitra

Burgeree

Project Information

Tenant: Brookfield
Size: 4,142 m2
Completion: July 2022
Location: Shanghai, China.
Design and Construction: EMZ + Architecture & Interior Design
Photovoltaic Panels: Pufeng New Energy
RESET Accredited Professional: Stefan Berder
RESET Accredited Data Provider: Gams
RESET Accredited Hardware: Kaiterra Sensedge Mini

Originally posted here on November 8, 2022.