With buildings accounting for nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the real estate sector has an enormous opportunity to make an impact while creating business value.

Jennifer Leitsch

Managing Director, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young LLP

Sustainability leader and ESG nerd. Nonprofit board director, professor, foodie, reader, traveler. Loves live music and hiking.

Areas of focus

Jennifer is an accomplished sustainability executive and recognized thought leader with more than 15 years of experience leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy; programs; and reporting, including 12 years at global real estate companies.

She leads engagements advancing ESG strategy, ESG disclosures, and climate risk and decarbonization initiatives with clients across the country, with a focus on the real estate, hospitality and construction sector.

Jennifer has been named as one of the Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders, as well as the Environment + Energy Leader 100.

She has an MBA and an MS in Marketing from the University of Colorado Denver, and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa. Jennifer is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional and a Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential holder.

How Jennifer building a better working world

Jennifer is committed to educating and supporting the next generation of sustainable business leaders. She served as Chair of the Managing for Sustainability Advisory Council at the University of Colorado Denver Business School for seven years and continues to be involved as a member. She established the Jennifer Leitsch Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarship awards to students in the Managing for Sustainability program at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Additionally, Jennifer developed and annually teaches Advanced Sustainability, a course that provides an overview of corporate sustainability issues, strategy, measurement and reporting for graduate students at the University of Denver Daniels College of Business.

Jennifer has been actively involved in the evolution of ESG and sustainability reporting standards, having served on both the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) stakeholder council and the SASB sector advisory group. 

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