Foundations of LEED 1_2023 - Page 005

Extracted Content

• Green Building Marketplace: Accelerate green building demand, delivery, and accessibility.

  • Public Policy: Advocate for effective and comprehensive green building policy and codes at all levels of government.

  • International: Advance green building around the world by developing certification capacity, sharing knowledge, and collaboratively advancing regionally appropriate and effective green building practices and policies.

  • Organizational Excellence: Leverage USGBC’s organizational structure and capacity to support and catalyze the market transformation required to achieve its mission.

4. LEED Strategic Goals

With LEED, USGBC strives to:

• Promote the tangible and intangible benefits of green buildings, including environmental, economic, human health, and social benefits over the life cycle of buildings.

• Achieve high profile and successful product launches.

• Earn widespread and routine endorsement by private and public real estate industry leaders and stakeholders.

• Earn widespread and routine endorsement by Federal, State, and Local Government and adoption as a vehicle for policy development and implementation.

• Deliver superior customer service that is professional, timely, and targeted to the customer’s needs.

• Offer a comprehensive portfolio of programs to meet the diverse needs of the real estate industry.

• Develop innovative technical tools and support services for LEED products.

• Consolidate LEED as the standard for green building practices for our homes, nonresidential buildings, and developments throughout the U.S.

• Support international adaptations of LEED with interested international organizations, such as green building councils.

• Lead the industry state of knowledge about practical implementation of the most up-to-date and practical innovations.

• Improve LEED performance criteria as the industry gains experience with integrated design, green construction, and sustainable operations and maintenance.

5. History & Background

Following the formation of USGBC in 1993, the organization’s members quickly realized that the sustainable building industry needed a system to define and measure “green buildings.” USGBC began to research existing green building metrics and rating systems. Less than a year after formation, the members acted on the initial findings by establishing a committee to focus solely on this topic. The composition of the committee was diverse; it included architects, real estate agents, a building owner, a lawyer, an environmentalist, and industry representatives. This cross section of people and professions added a richness and depth to both the process and to the ultimate product.

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