Are Vacant Office Buildings Good For The Environment?

The commercial property market is falling apart in some large US cities. Work-from-home habits have cut occupancy in some buildings by half. Building owners have started to default on these mortgages.

Low occupancy and shuttered buildings mean lower emissions from the facilities. No one knows how much this could cut millions of dollars from the industry overall.

Emissions Report

Another factor of the occupancy challenge is that fewer commercial highrises are being built in cities with demand problems. “Despite an increase in energy efficiency investment and lower energy intensity, the building and construction sector’s energy consumption and CO2 emissions have rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic to an all-time high, a new report finds,” according to the UN Environment Programme.

Some of the buildings in question have been or will be converted for other uses, including residential use. In these cases, emissions improvements are not likely.

As with edge improvements in emissions by industry, they cannot be measured, but it has a benefit.

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