In August, projects using the Arc tool to track performance data counted a total of 7 billion square feet of space in over 138 countries around the world, an increase of 1.4 billion square feet over the last 12 months. Based on project floor area, the United States retains the largest share of projects at 49.5%, followed by Canada at 9.6% and fast-rising Italy at 7.1%. Notable changes over the last year include a significant jump in retail projects.
These projects are measuring, tracking and scoring actual performance. Collectively, this includes 1.75 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, 15 trillion gallons of potable water consumption and 5.7 million tons of waste. These impacts are associated with more than 12 million occupants—a population larger than the metro area of Paris, France.
Today, nearly half of Arc projects are pursuing or have achieved LEED certification. We aggregate and report daily performance metrics for all these projects, including energy use, emissions and occupant satisfaction, and these data tell us something about the real-world impact of LEED certification. There is a clear and consistent positive impact of higher levels of LEED certification. For example, Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions intensity per unit floor area drops by 50% between LEED Certified and LEED Platinum.
How Arc works
Arc supports engagement at both the organizational level and the portfolio level. This is reflected in a three-step approach:
- Load anything.
- Score everything.
- Certify the best.
This means that users can load any combination of spaces at no cost. Arc scores the data against a growing set of performance standards, including LEED, local regulations, international benchmarks and more. Then, users can apply these scores to celebrate improvement or prioritize the pursuit of LEED certification. Prada’s record-setting achievement is a perfect example.
Changing the landscape of benchmarking
This is what the next generation of market transformation and a practical pathway to decarbonization looks like:
- Ubiquitous measured, actual performance.
- Data-driven differentiation to inform and prioritize action.
- Recognition for superior performance and real-world improvement.
Seven billion square feet of spaces, all tracking their performance, is not a small accomplishment, and it took the support of a vast community. We want to take a moment to appreciate everyone involved in this accomplishment:
- The Arc team: a small but mighty group that gets things done.
- Our colleagues at USGBC and GBCI: friends, colleagues and passionate market leaders.
- Arc users: more than 20,000 active individuals using Arc to solve day-to-day problems.
- Arc partners: a growing community of more than 20 organizations, helping data move smoothly and enriching Arc with new capabilities.
We have much more to do, and we invite you to track our progress and to reach out if you have any questions.