Green Building Standards and Certification Collaborations - A Promising Industry Development in Recent Years

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced a decision to recognize energy and water requirements from the Living Building Challenge green building system within the LEED green building program.  The collaboration and recognition is an exciting development, as the change is part of a growing movement of cooperation among green building organizations.  Other major cooperative efforts in recent years included a $3 million grant by google which led to the creation of a major collaborative effort called the Harmonization Task Group (HTG) targeting green building materials health.  HTG aims to streamline the inventorying of ingredients, screening of chemicals, and hazard assessment.  HTG also shares knowledge and best practices about human and environmental impacts associated with products to drive the phased removal of hazardous chemicals and the adoption of green chemistry.  In 2014, a major partnership also formed between five major U.S. standard developers in the U.S. to harmonize ASHRAE 189.1, the Internatiional Green Construction Code (IgCC), and the USGBC’s LEED rating system.  This group has worked to simplify and align the various codes to reduce market confusion and promote greater adoption of green building regulations and incentive programs.  Additionally, in 2014 The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) agreed to work together to show that green building and health and wellness are tied together.  All of these collaborative developments support the continued rapid growth of the green building industry, benefitting all industry segments.