USGBC Launches Toolkit for Building Decarbonization

This week, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released two comprehensive resources during New York Climate Week designed to accelerate decarbonization of the world’s existing building stock. The Decarbonization Blueprint: Reducing Emissions and Creating Value in Existing Buildings report and USGBC’s Corporate Practice Toolkit for High-Performance Buildings provide organizations with the frameworks, data and practical tools needed to transform real estate portfolios into high-performance, low-carbon assets.

The two resources come as the United Nations Environmental Program’s (UNEP) Limiting Overshoot report calls for urgent action to mitigate the effects of exceeding 1.5°C, a likely near-term outcome. 

“The existing building stock represents one of the most immediate levers we have for carbon reduction — and the challenge isn’t awareness, it’s activation,” said Sarah Zaleski, chief products officer, USGBC and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). “Building tenants, owners and operators are asking for higher performing buildings; what they need is a credible, structured pathway that connects ambition to action.”

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the world’s most widely used green building rating system, and The Decarbonization Blueprint report draws on data from nearly 11,000 LEED for Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED O+M) certified projects across 90 countries, representing 3.8 billion square feet. The projects have achieved an estimated 10.3 million metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emission savings and 81.8 million metric tons of cumulative reductions across a comprehensive view of emissions sources. For example, the report highlights how projects are using low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants to reduce impacts.  They also are working to minimize refrigerant leakage, a critical, yet less frequently discussed component of decarbonization.

The report further documents how performance-based frameworks deliver measurable emissions reductions, operational value and long-term decarbonization outcomes at scale. Featuring data and illustrative examples, the report demonstrates that emissions reduction can be achieved and verified in diverse markets and building types.

USGBC’s new Corporate Practice Toolkit for High-Performance Buildings provides practical guidance and model language to help organizations implement policies, procurement decisions and building-scale actions aligned with their real estate portfolio goals. The toolkit consists of the Corporate Policy Guide for High-Performance Buildings and the Corporate Procurement Guide for High-Performance Buildings.

Corporate sustainability leads, building professionals and other stakeholders can use the free, interactive toolkit to set policies, identify strategies and utilize sample language to scale portfolio-wide action toward corporate goals such as decarbonization and resilience. The toolkit covers topics such as green building certification, risk and resilience, decarbonization, energy and water, and indoor air quality, among others. The guides feature peer examples to help provide context and make the case to corporate leaders.

“Organizations are facing mounting pressure from investors, tenants and regulators to demonstrate measurable progress on sustainability, yet many lack the in-house expertise to translate goals into practical company-wide actions,” said Elizabeth Beardsley, USGBC senior policy counsel. “By making it easier for organizations to establish and execute green building policies, we’re accelerating a market-wide transformation toward high-performance buildings.”

Download your copy of The Decarbonization Blueprint: Reducing Emissions and Creating Value in Existing Buildings here.

Download your copies of the Corporate Policy Guide for High-Performance Buildings and the Corporate Procurement Guide for High-Performance Buildings here.