CBL's management and development teams have worked to identify ways to reduce our environmental footprint by installing energy management systems across our portfolio, utilizing energy-efficient lighting, and energy-efficient water fixtures. In 2021, we made progress on many of our key sustainability initiatives.
We have partnered with Goby, a global ESG consultant and ESG management platform, we began incorporating green lease language into our new and renewal leases, and we rolled out a tenant sustainability handbook to increase partnership and collaboration between tenant and landlord on key sustainability projects. We also expanded our partnerships with Volta and EVgo to increase the availability of electric vehicle charging stations across our portfolio.
In 2021, we increased the number of energy-efficient lighting projects to 62, resulting in more than 40.9 million kilowatt-hours saved. We recycled 6,000 tons of paper and cardboard across the 39 properties that have active recycling programs, which equates to 102,000 trees saved, reducing CBL’s carbon footprint by 1.5 million pounds.