Baruch Undergraduates Study Climate Change Solutions in Brooklyn

June 7, 2024

On an unseasonably warm day in early April, a group of Zicklin School of Business undergraduates sat in the lobby of 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, surrounded by nautical cables, old pallets, and panels of shipping crates—items repurposed from the days when this formerly industrial area was a thriving port on Brooklyn’s East River. Together with students from the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, the group was there on an experiential field trip as part of their coursework for the Susan Locke Interdisciplinary Capstone in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change.  

The tour was arranged by Zicklin School professor Lin Peng, PhD, Krell Chair Professor of Finance (Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance), who co-teaches the capstone course with Jean Gaffney, PhD, associate professor of chemistry at the Weissman School.  

“There is consumer demand for environmentally friendly hotels, and climate change is a very important issue for real estate developers,” Dr. Peng said. “Developers don’t want to build a property in an area that’s facing rising sea levels or the risk of wildfires. They want to build something sustainable and lasting.”  

1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is part of 1 Hotels, billed as a “sustainable luxury” collection of properties around the world targeting environmentally conscious travelers. The property, which is surrounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park, was created via a partnership between the local city and state governments and private developers, including Toll Brothers, a luxury home builder. Together they cleaned up this once-abandoned area and built the hotel according to strict sustainability guidelines.  

On the tour, students learned that 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 2017, is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council and features energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, rooftop gardens that reduce the urban “heat island” effect, and a rainwater collection system that irrigates the park’s greenery.  All guest rooms offer drinking glasses and carafes made from recycled wine bottles as well as a water tap built into the wall to discourage the use of plastic water bottles, and single-use plastic is not allowed in the bars and dining areas.  

After the tour, students headed next door to the hotel’s event space for a panel discussion on the project, moderated by Fred Cooper, a senior vice president at Toll Brothers. The panelists—Eric Landau, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation; Ailey Roberts, global head of sustainable investing for BGO, a real estate lender/investor; and Bernd Pichler, 1 Hotels’ area managing director—answered students’ questions about how the real estate industry intersects with environmental sustainability and climate change.   

Afterward, a group of Zicklin School seniors shared their thoughts on the visit.  

Marketing management major Gabriela Aguilar Castillo (BBA, ’24) said her key takeaway was learning about Local Law 97, which mandates that as of 2024, New York City buildings of more than 25,000 square feet are required to meet new limits for energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. “I wasn’t aware of that regulation,” she said.  

“I learned that there are many opportunities for me to make an impact through my career and hopefully be a driver of change myself,” said finance major Jane Alekperov (BBA, ’24).  

Katherine Quach (BBA, ’24), also a marketing management major, said she learned that it was possible to embed sustainability into business strategy. “The hotel’s implementation of sustainability into its everyday operations and core values sets a strong foundation for its brand and impact,” she added.  

Those sorts of observations were what Peng said she hoped students would gain from the experience. “Our students will be the future leaders in promoting sustainability and combating climate change,” she noted. “We want to show them that the business community and capital markets need not be obstacles, but can instead contribute powerfully to a triple win—a win for the business and its shareholders, for the local community, and for our planet.”

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