USGBC making its mark internationally

Green building is a global movement, and U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, D.C., has a growing commitment to ensuring our message has a global reach. The council’s activities at Greenbuild and expertise in policy, green building issues and supporting the drive for a common carbon metric positions it well to play a constructive role on the world stage. As evidence of this commitment, this week, USGBC will join other green building councils and thought leaders from around the world in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the Conference of the Parties (COP15) United Nations Climate Change Conference. World leaders continue to struggle to find consensus around defining common goals and targets to address climate change, but during these critical meetings USGBC will aggressively add its voice to others who see greenhouse gas reductions from buildings as a fundamental strategy that should be addressed as part of the outcome of this round of talks. Greenbuild 2009 – with its 27,373 attendees from 78 countries, hundreds of participants in the WorldGBC’s International Congress and a dozen leaders of green building councils from every region of the world participating in the Opening Keynote & Celebration, underscored the USGBC’s international dedication. USGBC is committed to harnessing that energy and excitement with a focus on some clear international goals that will help us elevate the conversation. One of those priorities is a common carbon metric. A fundamental aspect of tackling our carbon reduction goals is the ability to measure our progress, and to do that we need to have a common language worldwide. In November, the world’s leading green building organizations – including USGBC – reached a ground-breaking agreement to adopt a common global metric for the measurement of the carbon footprint of buildings. This is a critical and timely step that will demonstrate the cost-effective carbon mitigation potential of buildings, which account for around 40% of the world’s energy use and 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions. You can follow the events at Copenhagen at www.usgbc.org.