Evin Epstein is the Sustainability Analyst for SL Green Realty Corp, NYC’s largest commercial landlord. For the past few years, she has led teams in implementing green initiatives for 76 properties.
The company has recently won multiple achievements including IREM’s Sustainability Award for Workplace Environment, EPA Partner of the Year, and one of the first LEED v4 certifications in the United States.
“There’s been a big push with making sure that all of our plans and policies implemented are consistent with LEED standards.” – Evin Epstein
Into Environmental Policies
Her journey in the green movement all started from an Environmental Ethics class in college. She fell in love with the topic ever since. Then, Evin was able to pursue her Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy Design.
“At that time, it was a perfect fit. Now, it couldn’t be more relevant with all the 80×2050 legislation.” – Evin Epstein
During which, she interned for two summers at SL Green and at the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. It exposed her to a variety of settings. Among which is macro-level corporate sustainability, micro-level grassroots organizing and government-level public engagement.
Green Legislation in NYC
New York is a leader in the green movement with “local laws” for required benchmarking/transparency/improvement. At present, Evin sees the possiblity of additional pushes on commercial buildings in NYC: requirement caps (with penalties) on fossil fuel consumption by buildings and further building scoring transparency. And the wellness movement is coming fast, also.
“Studies show that 90% of our lives are spent indoors. So, we’re really making sure that our tenants have the highest quality indoor environment.” – Evin Epstein
Contributions in Sustainability Programs
Evin has been involved in a lot of sustainability projects, including One Vanderbilt. It is a 1.7M SF new development next to Grand Central Terminal which will incorporate the latest versions of LEED and WELL certifications. Nonetheless, she is always open to special projects and is willing to volunteer.
To hear about Evin Epstein and the green developments in New York City, download and listen to this episode!
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