New: Online education for credentialing and maintenance
By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager
GBES is an Education Partner with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in the development of new green building education courses and has partnered with the Massachusetts Chapter to provide online webinars for LEED credentialing and maintenance.
“We are excited to take the next step in our long affiliation with USGBC,” said Charlie Cichetti, principal of GBES. “Our established role ensures that GBES will continue to offer our customers the most relevant, up-to-date, and high-quality materials for sustainability education.”
The education partnership with USGBC strengthens the GBES position as the industry leader in LEED exam preparation since 2007. GBES has been active in USGBC Chapters and other industry organizations throughout the United States, as well as key international groups, with both online and in-person education.
USGBC is moving away from its focus on developing and delivering its own green building courses. Instead, it supports GBES and others in the partner network to provide resources to produce best-in-class educational programs. Partners have access to a variety of data, including LEED credit achievement patterns and market trends. In addition, partners can connect with a wide range of subject-matter and education experts, and access all of the USGBC educational materials.
As an Education Partner GBES has access to USGBC’s intellectual property, industry data and marketplace analytics, as well as educational development resources, further enabling us to create content that meets the demand of green education consumers, including design firms, developers, Fortune 500 companies and USGBC chapters.
In a marketplace crowded with elementary and inadequately developed products, GBES offers sophisticated and powerful LEED exam preparation. Backed by the strongest commitment to client success in the industry, dedicated customer support, unrivaled expertise in accreditation training and the best technology, GBES is a reliable partner for learning LEED and passing the LEED exam the first time.
Visit their site HERE! Tell your colleagues!
Paris COP21: Boosting Transition to Low-Carbon Built Environment
By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow
Below is a reposted article from USGBC National. Our Chapter is excited about a stronger international commitment to low-carbon and energy efficiency–we're looking forward to the impact that this agreement will have on the green building industry in Massachusetts!
COP21 boosting transition to a low-carbon built environment
Published on 11 Dec 2015
Written by Elizabeth Beardsley
The attention to the built environment at the United Nations’ 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) was unprecedented. We saw the first-ever Buildings Day, and buildings being discussed in all venues, from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change official side events to city and private sector events in Paris. There are several takeaways and actionable conversations coming out of USGBC’s time in Paris.
Finance community investing in building efficiency
There were signs throughout the conference that the finance world is all in. As USGBC and our colleagues at GRESB and Ceres have been reporting, the investment world is responding in a big way to the threat of climate change—and the return-on-investment potential of building efficiency. Just this week, over 100 financial institutions from more than 40 countries committed to actively contribute to scaling up energy efficiency financing and to work toward tracking deployment of energy efficiency finance. Also, 39 investors collectively managing close to $4 trillion endorsed the G20 Energy Efficiency Investor Statement, pledging to embed energy efficiency into their investment processes, commit to increasing energy efficiency investments, and monitor and report on asset energy efficiency performance. The Global Environment Facility, a key funding entity, announced $23 million in funding for the Building Energy Accelerator and the District Energy Accelerator.
Buildings given new visibility
Buildings Day was marked by widespread understanding that green buildings are at the core of climate action, with potential to drive significant reductions both short- and long-term. As Marcene Broadwater of IFC put it, building green now prevents 80 years of future over-consumption.
Buildings Day began with a call to action as Minister Glen Murray of Ontario asserted the need to rapidly deploy technology to buildings and to get it right, because we can’t go back again and again. We know we must employ energy efficiency and clean energy together, by first saving energy, and then, for the energy we can’t save, making it green. Sandrine Dickson-DeCleve of the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group bravely asked in the morning session, “If everyone says that this is the low-hanging fruit, why the hell aren’t we there?” Or, as Pierre-Andre Chalendar, CEO of USGBC member company Saint-Gobain, said more delicately in the afternoon, “We know how to make buildings that don’t use energy; the issue is, why don’t we?”
The finance community reiterated that the capital is there—or at least ready to be there. Some called for structures and tools to address transaction costs among multiple building sector actors, so that we can get financial flows to where they’re needed. There was agreement on emphasizing the life cycle approach to construction costs—where efficiency scores well. As Dr. Ishii of the Global Environment Facility explained, there’s a huge amount of potential CO2 reduction in buildings, but it doesn’t happen automatically: success requires the private sector and finance community. The need to work collaboratively throughout the value chain to internalize the externalities was emphasized.
Interestingly, private sector actors expressed the need for a strong government role, with codes, incentives and policies that are specific in context to help make our buildings what people want: better places to work, more comfortable homes, and places that support health for our children’s children. To this end, we were pleased to partner in highlighting the climate actions of 11 U.S. cities in the Local Climate Leaders Circle. These cities have not just made commitments, but have shown amazing results with both new and existing buildings, serving as role models to other local governments.
USGBC anchors green building councils in scaling up
Green building councils have a key role to play in bringing together the private, public and finance sectors. These councils support government policy advances and alignment with building technology, educate those along the value chain, scale up proven tools to mobilize capital for building efficiency and training and help make mainstream technological advances in the life cycle carbon footprint of buildings. USGBC, which runs LEED, the world’s most widely used green building rating system, committed to scaling green buildings and energy efficiency in buildings to more than 5 billion square feet (478 million square meters) over the next five years through LEED, as well as supporting adoption of EDGE as a key tool for energy efficiency in developing countries. We will bring our considerable tools, network and education platform to work with the newly formed Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction to successfully scale green and energy efficient buildings.
The new, official recognition of buildings as a solution, combined with the commitments of the financial community, private sector, green building council and governments, has signs of marking the tipping point we have anticipated. As Special Envoy Michael Bloomberg declared, we didn’t come to Paris to make history, but to make the future. USGBC is ready.
Chapter Member Leo Roy Named Commissioner of Dept of Conservation & Recreation
By Grey Lee, Executive Director
BOSTON – December 9, 2015 – Today, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Matthew Beaton announced that Leo Roy will serve as Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
“Leo brings a substantial amount of experience, dedication and knowledge to the Department of Conservation and Recreation,” said EEA Secretary Matthew Beaton. “His qualifications and skill set will ensure that the public will continue to benefit and enjoy additional recreational opportunities, while simultaneously laying the groundwork to conserve and preserve the state’s natural resources for future generations to come.”
“I am honored to join the Baker-Polito Administration and am excited for the opportunity to work with Secretary Beaton and the dedicated staff within the Department of Conservation and Recreation,” said Leo Roy. “The Department’s parks, pools, rinks, beaches, forests, watersheds, and historic properties are enjoyed by so many Massachusetts residents, and their stewardship is a significant responsibility.”
Leo Roy, Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Recreation
Leo Roy returns to public service after 15 years in the private sector, most recently as a Principal at VHB – an infrastructure planning, design, engineering, and environmental firm. Leo brings to the Department of Conservation and Recreation his experience in natural and cultural resource management, sustainability, ecological restoration, and agency management.
As an environmental consultant Roy worked for state and municipal governments, colleges and universities, airport and port authorities, and private corporations and developers. He was named a LEED Fellow by the US Green Building Council for over a decade’s work in promoting sustainable building design, construction, and operation, and was certified as an Envision Sustainability Professional by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure in 2012.
Previously, Roy served as Massachusetts Undersecretary of Environmental Affairs from 1992 to 1997. He has been an active supporter of numerous non-profit environmental organizations, serving on the Board of the Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC), and as Chair of the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership.
Yet Another Successful Green Associate Class!
By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager
Another Green Associate class has been launched into the industry. It was our pleasure to host, yet another, prep course. We had individuals from Arrowstreet, Commodore Builders, the BAC, Clean Water Action and other join us for the session earlier this week.
The class was instructed by two awesome engineers at The Green Engineers (Ryan Montoni and Matt Smity) who are experts in the LEED system. There were many moments where questions from the class incited deep level instruction and AP level examination and response. We were glad to see this well rounded group discuss green buildings, network amongst each other and invest their passion for knowledge and efficient design through this credential. All in the class, were interested in AP level credential and the discussion followed in the same depth.
The eight session course was found to be comprehensive, especially relating to the changes in LEED v4.
We will have our next session in February. Please click here to sign up. If you have a group, please email (celis@usgbcma.org ) for special rates.
Thornton Tomasetti Merger: Press Release from Wall Street Journal
By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow
Below is a re-post of a press release in the Wall Street Journal from our Chapter sponsor, Thornton Tomasetti. Congratulations on this major corporate advancement, and thank you for your continued commitment to sustainability and green buildings!
Engineering Firms Merge, Aim to Drive Innovation
Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates, both based in Manhattan, are combining
[From left, Raymond Daddazio, co-president of Thornton Tomasetti after the merger; Robert DeScenza, co-president; and Thomas Scarangello, chairman and chief executive.]
PHOTO: ADRIENNE GRUNWALD FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By KEIKO MORRIS
Sept. 7, 2015 9:04 p.m. ET
Thornton Tomasetti Inc. and Weidlinger Associates Inc. have been friendly for years, their leaders working together on projects and industry organizations. The relationship didn’t get serious, though, until talk turned to innovation.
Now, the engineering firms are tying the knot.
“There was a lot of respect and there were similarities, but I think it took this idea of driving innovation,” said Thomas Scarangello, chairman and chief executive of Thornton Tomasetti. “The big 20-year goal is to be the driver of innovation globally in our industry.”
The Manhattan-based companies, known for their work on buildings, stadiums and public infrastructure projects, are coming together under the Thornton Tomasetti name.
The merger, expected to be completed through an exchange of stock on Tuesday, creates a privately held company with a broader range of expertise and services, and a wider geographical reach.
The combined entity hopes to influence innovation in the industry. The firm plans to create a research-and-development holding company that will support and potentially market innovations in the construction industry and elsewhere, and bring in outside investors, officials said.
Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger have complementary practices and rarely competed with each other, except for talent, company leaders said.
The firms’ combined revenue is projected to be about $240 million in 2015, with about $180 million from Thornton Tomasetti and $60 million from Weidlinger, company officials said.
The new company will have about 1,200 employees and offices in 34 cities. Thornton Tomasetti has about 950 employees and offices in 27 cities, and Weidlinger has 260 employees in 10 cities. The firms both have offices in New York City, Washington, and Boston.
The construction industry, compared with other sectors, has been a slow adopter of innovations, partly because of the way projects are often managed with several companies handling various parts of the building process, industry experts say. By contrast, a manufacturing firm, for example, owns and controls its plant and its labor, a structure that makes it easier to incorporate innovations, said Greg Gerstenhaber,partner in the Dallas office of Bain & Co., a management consulting firm.
But there has been a big push in using digital technology to do design work more efficiently with such tools as advanced modeling software and 3-D printing, Mr. Gerstenhaber said.
“These tools are powerful and driving a lot of innovation,” he said. “But this is an industry that’s tougher to drive innovation,” and a “high level of coordination” is often required to put new concepts into practice, he said.
Individually, both firms encouraged employees to develop ideas and, in some cases, formed niche businesses around these developments, company leaders said.
Thornton Tomasetti is working with NASA to create more cost-efficient tuned mass dampers from technology that had been developed to control vibrations on vehicles launched into space. Tuned mass dampers are devices typically employed in many skyscrapers built today to reduce movement and vibrations.
One Weidlinger software product enabling virtual prototyping has had uses outside of the firm’s main focus area. One application of it has allowed the medical ultrasound industry to drastically reduce the time it takes to bring improved equipment to market, saidRaymond Daddazio, formerly Weidlinger’s chief executive who will now serve as co-president. That software emerged out of other applications designed to simulate and analyze seismic waves and shock waves.
A dedicated research-and-development holding company can pave the way for more of these developments that eventually generate revenue to support similar projects, company heads said.
“The people who do that work in our firm aren’t on the traditional path of becoming a principal in a structural engineering firm,” Mr. Daddazio said. “So we have been trying to explore ways to continue that type of innovation and have a structure to motivate those people as well.”
One of the goals behind the union is similar to those driving mergers and acquisitions in the construction and engineering industry world-wide. The merged company can offer a number of integrated services on a project; it now has 10 practice areas.
“Instead of working as two independent firms and sharing data through an intermediary, we have people working hand in hand in the same office working on the same design,” said Robert DeScenza, president of Thornton Tomasetti, who becomes co-president of the combined companies.
And the merger can boost the company’s competitive edge in a global marketplace, where engineering and construction industry mergers are on the rise. In the second quarter of this year, acquisition and merger activity “accelerated sharply” from the first quarter with the number of both mergers and acquisitions of $50 million and more increasing to 64, a 73% jump, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
But leaders at the newly merged Thornton Tomasetti said they aren’t interested in growing purely to boost the number of projects it handles and will continue to be selective about the jobs it takes.
“We don’t do assembly-line engineering,” said Mr. Daddazio.
Both firms had resumes filled with high-profile, complex projects. Thornton Tomasetti has provided structural engineering and design services for some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, including the Shanghai Tower in China, which is 2,074 feet high, and the planned Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which will rise more than 3,280 feet.
Weidlinger, the smaller of the two, is known for its transportation and protective design work. The firm provided structural-design and blast-engineering services for the U.S. Embassy in Berlin and designed the San-Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, a self-anchored suspension bridge that replaced the one damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Weidlinger’s applied science, protective design and transportation practices, which have garnered industry recognition, will continue to carry the Weidlinger brand.
“For us, bringing those practices to the Thornton Tomasetti platform gives us so much wider reach, more opportunity,” Mr. Daddazio said. “…Engineers get good based on the projects they have worked on. This is just a bigger platform for growth for our people.”
Check out a Dynamic Plaque!
By Grey Lee, Executive Director
How about a nice green breakfast on 12/17 in Boston?
Join us and Boston Properties for a visit to 100 Federal St in the Financial District (this is the Bank of America building) to check out their Dynamic Plaque installation. Here we will talk about the Dynamic Plaque system and occupant engagement. Let's hear more about the Boston Properties team's story and how they came to adopt the plaque. This is a new way to manage your green building certification – how does it happen, is it easier than other processes? What are the benefits to the owner?
Are you working on the greening of an existing building? This will be a great way to connect with colleagues. This is a free event and open our members and their guests. Usually our Green Breakfast sessions are at our headquarters on Milk Street, but this time we will be at 100 Federal St, a few blocks away. We look forward to seeing everyone interested. Light refreshments will be served.
Monumental Greenbuild Delivers Monumentally
By Grey Lee, Executive Director
[this story produced by Informa and the USGBC]
Increase in attendance, sold-out sessions and high-level speakers among highlights of week
Dallas (Dec. 8, 2015) – Informa Exhibitions and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have announced the results of the 2015 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, held Nov. 18-20 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Attendance was 19,058, a significant increase over the 2014 event. There were 548 exhibiting companies participating in 144,300 square feet of exhibit and display space on the trade show floor.
Greenbuild featured more than 200 sessions, tours, summits and workshops in the robust education program and throughout the week, with many sold-out sessions. An impressive 34,494 hours of continuing education credits were also earned at Greenbuild.
“In true Greenbuild fashion, sustainability remained at the forefront of this year’s event, and we hope each participant walked away with fresh motivation, inspiration and the most cutting-edge knowledge in the market,” noted Lindsay Roberts, Greenbuild show director. “From an increase in participation of our exhibitor greening guidelines to an increase in attendance to notable sustainability benchmarks, Greenbuild was a success and we continue to be grateful to the community for driving the green building movement forward.”
Greenbuild 2015 featured several key events, such as:
- Opening Plenary, which featured a conversation on climate change with award-winning filmmaker James Cameron and MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe
- Greenbuild Celebration, held at the Washington, D.C. Newseum, included a special concert performance by Fitz and the Tantrums and a lively evening of networking
- Closing Plenary, which concluded the week with a fast-paced discussion moderated by NPR President Emeritus Kevin Klose and prominent sustainability leaders
- Combined Summit Closing Plenary featured Dr. Deepak Chopra, a pioneer and global leader in the mind-body medicine field
- Master speaker Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
- USGBC Leadership Awards Luncheon, which annually recognizes outstanding efforts to advance green building design and construction
- Communities & Affordable Homes Summit, Materials & Human Health Summit and International Summit
- Women in Green Power Breakfast, which celebrated females who are actively making a difference in sustainability
- Greenbuild Legacy Project, which celebrated a new urban food studio at the Capital Area Food Bank
Attendees also spent significant time discovering and enjoying Washington, D.C. USGBC-National Capital Region led the official host committee of Greenbuild 2015 with 24 tours throughout the week, exploring residential and commercial buildings as well as historical buildings throughout the city.
“Every year, Greenbuild brings world-class education and programming to the green building community and continues to maintain the standards that make Greenbuild the most sustainable building conference in the world,” said Kate Hurst, vice president of community, conferences and events, USGBC. “From impactful education sessions to dynamic speakers and engaging summits, this year’s show represented all facets of green building for the nearly 20,000 attendees.”
The expo hall again showcased the leading products and services available to professionals within the sustainable building industry and had several notable areas, including:
- Greenbuild Unity Home, a 1,620-square-foot demonstration home designed to achieve LEED Platinum, WaterSense certification and net zero, which also included a full array of Cradle to Cradle-certified products
- World’s only Net Zero Zone, a 3,200-square-foot pavilion powered by alternative power collected on-site at the Washington Convention Center
- Expo Stage that hosted relevant and engaging sessions complimentary to all attendees
- Nine sponsored Education Labs with CE accredited education on the show floor, all sold out
- A display featuring sustainability-themed art from local children
Greenbuild 2016 Iconic Green is scheduled for Oct. 5-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found at greenbuildexpo.com.
The Call for Proposals and Reviewers for Greenbuild 2016 is open and the deadline to submit is Jan. 8, 2016.
Video footage from the Opening Plenary, Closing Plenary, Master Series and Special Sets will be posted on the Greenbuild website this month.
A Week for Compromise: Paris COP21 Update
By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow
After a week of lectures and meetings at the Paris climate talks (including a Building Day, that focused on the role that sustainable buildings could have in mitigating climate change), it is time for delegates to finalize an agreement between 196 countries. After spending four years to get the document to its current point, some delegates are concerned that too weighty of a decision is being left to politicians, who must come to an agreement by the end of the week. It is not yet decided if the entire agreement will be legally-binding, or just certain components.
The current document is 48 pages long and contains more than 900 brackets, which indicate areas of disagreement. In the next week, the world's leaders truly have the fate of the world in their hands–and they have a lot of opposing viewpoints to consider.
Many island nations want this document to reflect the fact that with a global temperature rise of more than 1.5°Celsius, their homes may be lost to the rising sea. Other countries are pushing for a 2°C goal.
There is disagreement about financing: richer countries want to expand the base of donor countries, if there will be an increase in the promised $100 billion from 2020. This funding will help the poorer countries cope with climate change and ease their transition to low-carbon electricity.
There are major divisions over how the carbon-cutting promises made in this agreement will be reviewed, how frequently, and using what standard.
Representatives from some of the poorest nations are concerned that their development will be sacrificed to reach the Paris climate goals. They argue that today's wealthiest nations got rich after decades of industrialization and pollution, and without the same “development space,” or chance to develop their economies, a stringent climate agreement that strictly limits pollution levels will are condemn them to the same poor future. Other poor nations are concerned that they will be disproportionately affected by climate change if the agreement isn't hard enough on the wealthiest, highest polluting nations. Most of the world's poorest countries are closer to the equator, in regions much more susceptible to the storms and rising sea levels that are associated with higher global temperatures.
According to an article from the BBC, “By the end of October, 146 countries had submitted national climate plans on curbing emissions that are expected to form the cornerstone of a binding, global treaty on climate change. According to a UN report, submissions in their current form point to a rise of 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.Scientists have determined that if temperature rises surpass 2°C, this will lead to substantial and dangerous climate impacts, which will hit the world's poor in particular.” [See graph above].
It was timely that in the midst of these momentous climate talks, yesterday morning Beijing issued its first ever “red alert” over smog levels. According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, “The red alert is the highest possible, and has not been used in the city before.” In the early morning, the air pollution monitor operated by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported that the intensity of the poisonous, tiny particles of PM 2.5 was 10 times higher than the recommended limit.
The effects of greenhouse gases on our environment are becoming increasingly clear, as seen in this shocking photo from a smog-filled Beijing. But the one positive outcome of seeing these dramatic changes to our planet is that it has forced world leaders to find grounds for compromise.
In a speech yesterday morning, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that the top government officials have the power, and responsibility, to set a sustainable foundation that will enable security and prosperity for all. Yet, in spite of the mountain of challenges these delegates face at COP21, Mr. Ban was optimistic. “A week ago, 150 world leaders stood here and pledged their full support for a robust global climate agreement that is equal to the test we face,” Mr. Ban remembered. “Never before have so many Heads of State and Government gathered in one place at one time with one common purpose.”
The Paris climate talks have inspired a willingness to compromise that has never been seen before. Four of the biggest pollutors–the U.S., European Union, Canada and China–declared yesterday that they were now open to the 1.5°C goal endorsed by the most environmentally vulnerable countries.
It is not clear if there are strings attached to these pledges, but with only a week left for delegates to come to a final agreement, it will soon be clear.
One thing is clear, though: these climate talks are raising the profile of sustainable industries, and will soon increase the demand for much higher energy efficiency across the board. And that's great news for green buildings.
5 Billion Square Feet in Five Years
By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager
U.S. Green Building Council Commits to Scaling LEED Green Buildings to More Than 5 Billion Square Feet Over Next Five Years
USGBC’s ambitious commitment made at COP21 in Paris on the 3rd
We hope you will join us in our efforts to support the green building agenda here in Massachusetts. it is very excited to be a part of a worldwide movement to transform our societies toward sustainability. Embracing change in the building sector is one of the most powerful and scalable ways that we can address social and environmental challenges at the global level. Join us and visit our advocacy priorities page.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced December 3rd, that it will commit to scaling green buildings to more than 5 billion square feet (478 million square meters) over the next five years through the LEED and EDGE green building rating systems. USGBC’s commitment was made at Buildings Day, an official event at the United Nations climate negotiations conference known as COP21.
“As we gather around the imperatives to address climate change at COP21, we know that buildings must continue be a key focus area for countries to reach carbon emissions reduction goals,” said Roger Platt, president, USGBC. “By encouraging the use of green building rating systems like LEED and EDGE in both the public and private sectors, countries can log immediate and measurable reductions of these emissions as their building stock uses less energy and water, creates less waste, saves money and creates a healthier environment for everyone.”
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the world’s most widely used green building rating system. LEED projects can be found in more than 150 countries and territories throughout the world, with more than 1.85 million square feet of space being certified everyday. Designed for emerging economies, EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) is a green building certification system for new residential and commercial buildings that enables design teams and project owners in developing countries to assess the most cost effective ways to incorporate energy and water saving options into their buildings.
USGBC’s sister organization, Green Business Certification Inc., is the exclusive certification body for LEED globally and EDGE in India and also certifies EDGE projects in other countries throughout the world. GBCI oversees a portfolio of additional rating systems and programs that support carbon reductions as a way to mitigate climate change.
As part of USGBC’s commitment this week, over the next five years the organization is working to expand in several areas:
Area of Focus |
USGBC Commitment |
Green Certified Buildings |
Scale up to support certification of a projected over 5 billion square feet (478 million square meters) of green building with LEED and EDGE. |
Workforce Capacity |
Expand platform worldwide for green building education, and with educational partners, double the non-English offerings. |
Finance |
Advance building performance transparency metrics for the financial community, including tools for investors, lenders and underwriters through USGBC’s involvement with GRESB and other initiatives to recognize and reward green attributes in building portfolios. |
Government Policy and Strategy |
Continue to advocate for and assist with the development of policies and strategies for public and private sector green building at all levels of government throughout the world. |
Measurement and Accountability |
Support key tools that enable and encourage building performance transparency: the LEED Dynamic Plaque, which looks at performance feedback at the building scale; the Green Building Information Gateway (GBIG.org), which consolidates building achievement information; and benchmarking ordinances, which create accountability and incentive for improvement. |
USGBC joined 25 other Green Building Councils from around the world that unveiled commitments at COP21 to transform the sustainability of buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that the building and construction industry plays its part in limiting global warming to 2 degrees.
Buildings in general currently account for about one third of global emissions, and green buildings are one of the most cost-effective solutions to climate change, by generating significant environmental, economic and societal benefits.
“USGBC has long been at the forefront of real leadership on green buildings and its ambitious commitments at these critical climate change negotiations in Paris are an excellent example of that leadership,” said Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council. “We know how to build bigger and bigger. The challenge is to build bigger and better and at the same time improve our existing buildings stock. And it is commitments like these that will underscore the critical importance of using every tool at our disposal to achieve the 2 degree world we need to ensure for our future.”
Notes Regarding the World Green Building Council
The commitments form part of the World Green Building Council’s Better Build Green campaign, which has been focusing on COP21 and Buildings Day.
A summary of the commitments:
- All 74 national Green Building Councils support the high level commitment from the World Green Building Council (the global network of which they are members) to achieve Net Zero carbon new building and energy efficient refurbishment of the existing building stock by 2050.
- 25 Green Building Councils commit to register, renovate or certify over 1.25 billion square metres of green building space – almost twice the size of Singapore – and train over 127,000 qualified green building professionals by 2020.
- 3 Green Building Councils (Canada, Australia and South Africa) commit to introduce Net Zero certification for buildings.
- More than 125 corporate members of Green Building Councils have made commitments, including the French product manufacturing giant Saint-Gobain, Australian developer LendLease and Swedish construction firm Skanska.
All Green Building Council and corporate member commitments are available here.
Key statistics/messages
- To play its part in limiting global warming to 2 degrees, the buildings sector must reduce emissions by 84 gigatonnes by 2050 – the equivalent of not building 22,000 coal powered plants. WorldGBC has committed to achieving this goal by enabling a market transformation.
- This large-scale reduction of emissions is possible – but it will take transformative action and collaboration.
- By 2018, green building in the US will account for over 3.3 million jobs, more than one third of the entire US construction sector.
- Green Building can improve people’s health, wellbeing and productivity – for example, improved indoor air quality can lead to productivity improvements of up to 11 percent.