Equity LifeStyle Properties – Jacob Rosenzweig-Stein – 2025
Summary
Jake Rosenzweig-Stein developed key frameworks for Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS) around Scope 3 accounting, aligning them with California’s SB-253, and around climate resiliency, helping ELS recognize their exposure to climate risks and harden their assets in response.
Goals
ELS, a real estate investment trust (REIT), engaged Jake to develop frameworks for a climate resiliency strategy and prepare to comply with the California mandate SB-253, which will require all US corporations with annual revenue over one billion dollars doing business in their state to report on Scope 3 emissions by 2027. These frameworks will address the physical risks of climate change and help identify how to approach, measure, and report on additional Scope 3 emissions categories.
Solutions
Jake approached each project with three steps:
Climate Resiliency
Strategy: Through a competitive analysis and industry benchmark of resilience strategies at REITs, Jake identified the most impactful strategies for tackling climate risks
Climate Risk Assessment Tool: Using ArcGIS and the FEMA National Risk Index, Jake analyzed ELS’ exposure to 18 climate risks, regionally and at the property level.
Risk Mitigation: Through research, Jake created guidance identifying how those risks may impact ELS and actions they can take to mitigate them.
Upstream Scope 3
Category Relevance: Through stakeholder conversations at ELS, Jake applied an understanding of ELS’ supply chain with GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 framework to identify seven relevant Upstream Scope 3 categories to ELS’ business operations
Framework: Using GHG Protocol guidance, Jake developed a framework of how ELS can approach, measure, and report on Scope 3 to comply with SB-253.
Categories 1 & 2: With data from the accounting team, Jake mapped the line of accounts to EEIO Emission Factors and analyzed ELS’ footprint from Purchased Goods and Services (Category 1) and Capital Goods (Category 2).
Potential Impact
Reporting on Scope 3 emissions will allow ELS to comply with SB-253 and will also supply them with actionable data and metrics they can use to optimize their supply chain and set internal reduction goals that exceed shareholder/investor expectations. Incorporating climate resiliency into their broader business strategy will enable ELS to create long term cost savings from lower maintenance, insurance, damage, repair, and recovery costs. Climate resiliency efforts will also help ELS protect their tenants, build trust with shareholders, decrease downtime at properties after climate-related events, and increase their assets’ longevity and value. You cannot manage what you cannot measure, and these two projects and frameworks allow ELS to measure and manage their Scope 3 emission and their climate risk exposure.
