Atlanta, May 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. ("Piedmont") (NYSE:PDM), an owner of Class A office properties located primarily in the Sunbelt, today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy have recognized the company as a 2022 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, marking the second year in a row that Piedmont has achieved the designation.

“We are honored to receive the 2022 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award again this year, ” said Brent Smith, Piedmont’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are committed to being a leader among our peers in the commercial real estate industry when it comes to managing our properties in an environmentally responsible manner and ENERGY STAR is a critical component of our energy management program. Our tenants, our employees, and our stockholders expect us to set the bar high when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint and we are pleased that our efforts towards this important endeavor have been recognized.”

“We know it’s going to take all of us working together to tackle the climate crisis, and the 2022 ENERGY STAR award-winning partners are demonstrating what it takes to build a more sustainable future,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “These companies are showing once again that taking action in support of a clean energy economy can be good not only for the environment, but also for business and customers.”

Each year, the ENERGY STAR program honors a group of businesses and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy achievements. ENERGY STAR award winners lead their industries in the production, sale, and adoption of energy-efficient products, homes, buildings, services, and strategies. These efforts are essential to fighting the climate crisis and protecting public health. Winners are selected from a network of thousands of ENERGY STAR partners.

About Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper, and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in the Sunbelt. Its approximately $5 billion portfolio is currently comprised of approximately 16 million square feet. The company is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by S&P Global Ratings (BBB) and Moody’s (Baa2). Piedmont is a 2022 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year. For more information, see www.piedmontreit.com.

About ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR^® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations—including more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500®—rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses avoid more than $500 billion in energy costs and achieve more than 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions. More background information about ENERGY STAR’s impacts can be found at www.energystar.gov/impacts and state-level information can be found at www.energystar.gov/statefacts.

   Contact:         Jon Kuskie, Vice President of Sustainability and National Initiatives        
   Company:      Piedmont Office Realty Trust
   Phone:           770 418 8800
   Email:            Investor.relations@Piedmontreit.com