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Macerich Portfolio Embodied Carbon Services

Macerich is a leading owner, operator, and developer of top retail and mixed-use destinations in major U.S. markets. Stok was hired to support Macerich’s portfolio decarbonization efforts by providing life cycle assessments (LCAs) to reduce embodied carbon across the company’s properties as it expands and renovates spaces. Stok’s embodied carbon analyses contribute to Macerich’s strategic approach toward its ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.

At a Glance

Macerich
National (U.S.)
Retail
1,567,400 SF across 8 sites
Macerich (Client)Macerich (Owner)
  • Embodied Carbon Reduction Strategy
  • LCA and Embodied Carbon Reporting

The Challenge

Macerich engaged Stok to analyze embodied carbon across its national retail portfolio and recommend opportunities for Scope 3 emissions reductions. Specifically, Stok:

  • Collaborated with the ownership team to develop a comprehensive embodied carbon reporting and reduction strategy that aligned with the company’s corporate carbon neutrality goal.
  • Is providing iterative LCAs across Macerich’s new development and renovation sites to identify carbon hotspots and recommend cost-effective reduction strategies.
“In October 2021, Macerich engaged Stok for support with our corporate goal to reduce embodied carbon emissions. Stok began with education, introducing us to vocabulary for tracking carbon emissions and helping us establish a historical baseline of past projects. Over the past 2+ years, Macerich’s partnership with Stok has grown, enabling sustainability and decarbonization efforts across our portfolio. Stok’s carbon experts provide embodied carbon assessments and reduction strategies in concise reports in a timely manner that help us make informed decisions for our renovation and new construction projects, steadily moving Macerich toward our goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.”

By the Numbers

Emissions prevented at an affordable cost (2023)
>500MTCO2e
Additional emissions prevented with ongoing projects (on track)
500MTCO2e

The Solution

STANDARDIZED LCA DELIVERY FOR STREAMLINED PORTFOLIO-WIDE IMPACT

Stok’s team began this engagement by performing three post-completion LCAs to identify typical embodied carbon impacts, carbon hot spots, and priority areas of opportunity to implement on future development projects for multiple project types. Working collaboratively with Macerich, Stok developed standardized scopes of work for LCA project delivery methods for use on each project type. 

EMBODIED CARBON ASSESSMENTS FOR COST-EFFECTIVE SCOPE 3 REDUCTIONS

Stok’s team is currently performing embodied carbon assessments for all of Macerich’s renovation and new construction projects. The analyses primarily focus on identifying carbon hotspots and recommending reduction strategies. Stok works with Macerich’s estimating team and design and construction teams to identify low- to no-cost options, the reduction potential against any cost premiums, material sourcing strategies, and schedule implications to derive actionable steps to reduce impact. From 2022 to 2023, Stok performed design stage iterative LCAs across 10 projects under development. 

Photo courtesy of Macerich

Project Leadership

Jacob Arlein
Strategic Growth | Sustainable Buildings
Christina Weber
Shreya Das
Andrés Gutiérrez

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