USGBC Announces New LEED Positive Initiative

Atlanta, GA, November 22, 2019-At Greenbuild International Conference and Expo held in Atlanta, Georgia, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced LEED Positive-a vision statement and LEED development roadmap that will lay the foundation for a future of LEED that is regenerative.

“We must do all we can to leverage our tools and resources to scale up reductions in carbon emissions associated with buildings, communities and cities,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC. “LEED must evolve qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitatively, it must transition from strategies that reduce the harm done by buildings to strategies that cause no harm and are regenerative by design, ensuring our buildings are actually giving back more than they take. And quantitatively it will need to accelerate and increase its impact ten to a hundred-fold by leveraging our Arc performance platform. The future of LEED is LEED positive.”

The world faces staggering challenges through 2050 in terms of water scarcity, air quality, resiliency and climate change. To help address these issues, the LEED Positive vision will guide USGBC in transitioning LEED from strategies that reduce the harm done by buildings to strategies that cause no harm and begin the process of healing and repair.

LEED Positive will encourage development that allows buildings to become a vehicle for environmental restoration and repair. The vision is composed of several parts that will work together to guide the development of the LEED rating system, including:

* Proposed LEED Positive targets for energy and carbon reduction that will require new construction to go further and push existing buildings with high energy usage to substantially increase their efficiency efforts;

* Define LEED Positive targets for other LEED credit categories that make up the holistic LEED rating system;

* Continue investment in LEED v4.1 to accelerate the implementation and adoption of LEED for both new and existing buildings; and

* Support category level performance certificates through the Arc platform to provide existing buildings with a pathway to LEED certification.

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