Netflix, Brookfield Properties and the Coalition for Responsible Community Development Among Winners Recognized for Sustainability & Social Impact Efforts

LOS ANGELES, March 29, 2023 — The Los Angeles Better Buildings Challenge (LABBC) on Wednesday afternoon presented the city’s most prestigious sustainability awards to the “Best Buildings” in Los Angeles at its 9th Annual Innovation Awards. The intimate invite-only ceremony was held in Downtown Los Angeles at the L.A. Cleantech Incubator (LACI) in the Arts District. 

The first award went to newly appointed L.A. Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley for her extraordinary leadership in the space of building decarbonization. It was her vision, as Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality for the Obama Administration, that paved the way for the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge to take off more than a decade ago, starting with a 30 million-square-foot commitment by building owners and managers here in Los Angeles to reduce water and energy use 20% by 2020. Today, the LABBC counts buildings totaling more than 130 million square feet as partners committed to reducing building energy use 22% per square foot and potable water use by 22.5% per capita by 2025. 

“It’s heartening and inspiring to see how far this strange little idea has come,” Sutley said, accepting the award and thanking her fellow award winners for their collective environmental work. “It’s really up to all of us to deliver on ambitious decarbonization and sustainability goals, and to meaningfully confront the climate crisis and the environmental injustices in our city.” 

Five additional awards were presented to LABBC partners who demonstrated exceptional ingenuity in energy and water efficiency, along with a commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals for their buildings.

LABBC Executive Director David Hodgins pointed out that many of this year’s award winners were recognized not only for making the most of the tools and technologies available to them, but for applying them in ways that reach far beyond the boundaries of any one property. 

“These winners are truly inspiring,” Hodgins said. “They’re showing it’s possible to make a real impact today, using today’s technology to overcome today’s biggest challenges. They’re laying the foundation for the clean energy transition.” 

The energy and water use reductions achieved by this year’s winners bring Los Angeles closer to achieving the goals set forth by L.A.’s Green New Deal, which seeks to put Los Angeles on a course to reach the science-based targets laid out in the Paris Climate Accord. 

Matt Petersen, Chief Executive Officer for the L.A Cleantech Incubator, welcomed guests to the awards program, and Marta Segura, Climate Emergency Mobilization Director and Chief Heat Officer for the City of Los Angeles, presented a keynote address. She commended this year’s winners for their contributions to making Los Angeles a better, more resilient city.

“[Together], we’re creating healthier environments, healthier buildings, healthier homes. It’s the kind of future that we all wish we had grown up in, and the one that we foresee for our children,” she said. “It more than takes a village. It takes a village of visionaries, a village of doers, a village of people who want to see a healthy, thriving Los Angeles and can see that that is our ultimate goal.

Learn more about each of our awardees below, or check out our event recap here.