Green Lease Clauses Starter Pack

A practical clause menu to unlock data sharing, cooperation, and metering (not legal advice)

Scope 3, Made PracticalStarter Pack30 min

Important: This is educational and operational. Use legal counsel for final language.

What you'll accomplish

  • Understand the minimum clauses needed to make tenant utility data possible
  • Get a menu of clause concepts you can mix-and-match
  • Have "minimum viable" clause language you can start from (with legal review)
  • Learn fallback options when tenants resist

The minimum viable green lease goal (plain English)

You are not trying to "win a sustainability clause debate." You are trying to ensure:

  • •Utility data can be shared
  • •Meters can be installed/used
  • •Efficiency improvements can be coordinated
  • •Responsibilities are clear

Clause menu (what to include)

1Data sharing / utility disclosure
2Authorization to obtain utility data directly
3Metering/submetering rights
4Operating standards cooperation
5Efficiency improvement cooperation
6Cost recovery principles (if applicable)
7Non-retaliation / confidentiality (optional)
8Reporting and evidence requirements (optional)

Templates included

Template 1 — Minimum Viable Data Sharing Clause (starter language)

Tenant agrees to provide Landlord, upon request, utility consumption data (including billing period dates and usage) for the Premises, or to authorize Landlord to obtain such data directly from the utility provider. Tenant shall provide such information within [X] days of request. Landlord may use the information for building operations, benchmarking, and reporting purposes.

Template 2 — Utility Authorization Clause (starter language)

Tenant agrees to execute reasonable authorizations required for Landlord to access utility consumption data for the Premises directly from utility providers or metering systems, subject to confidentiality obligations.

Template 3 — Metering/Submetering Rights Clause (starter language)

Landlord may install and operate submeters or other metering equipment to measure utility consumption for the Premises or building systems, provided installation is performed in a commercially reasonable manner. Tenant shall cooperate with access and reasonable operational requirements.

Template 4 — Fallback language (if tenant pushes back)

If Tenant cannot provide utility data, Tenant agrees to provide a spend summary and copies of bills sufficient to estimate consumption, until direct data access is established.

Template 5 — Tenant FAQ (copy/paste)

Why are we asking?
- To reduce operational friction and improve building performance.

Will you share our data publicly?
- No. Data is used for operations and reporting in aggregate; confidentiality applies.

Does this increase our costs?
- Not inherently. It makes data access and cooperation predictable.

Common pitfalls

  • ✗Clauses exist but are unenforced (no escalation)
  • ✗No defined timeframe (requests stall)
  • ✗No clear definition of what "data" includes (need dates + usage + evidence)
  • ✗No metering rights (allocation becomes permanent)

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release