Procter & Gamble’s Energy Star-certified corporate headquarters in Cincinnati is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (NYSE: JLL), an international real estate firm with 1.2 billion square feet of commercial and industrial buildings, sent a rift through the real estate investment industry in July when it acquired Toronto-based ECD Energy and Environment Canada Ltd., the developer of Green Globes’ online building evaluation tool.

“We have a commitment to lead the property industry to become more sustainable,” says Lauralee Martin, Jones Lang LaSalle’s CFO. “We were attracted to Green Globes because it’s an online tool that offers a continuous way to look at a portfolio of buildings.”

CB Richard Ellis, which manages 1.7 billion square feet of real estate globally, in November 2007 committed to pursuing certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Portfolio Program, which is currently in its pilot stage.

Martin of Jones Lang LaSalle says the company acquired EDC because the company wants an “independent benchmarking tool” for assessing building performance.

"There has been a lot of discussion in the sustainable and investment worlds as to how this would impact standards,"  says Theddi Wright Chappell, National sustainability practice leader for Cushman Wakefield. "I think it gives immediate credibility to Green Globes in terms of an international real estate powerhouse making this kind of move."

The company could still choose to gain third-party certification through Green Globes, licensed by the Portland-based nonprofit Green Building Initiative in the United States and Go Green, supervised by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) in Canada, or LEED, Martin says.