Despite repeated warnings and unassailable scientific evidence on the climate consequences of the brown economy, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Some prefer to assign blame to the failure of international treaties to curb emissions, yet there is so much that can be done by simple changes to the way we design and run our homes and places of work and leisure. This is why the work of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), a private not-for-profit organization that is transforming buildings across the globe, is so crucial.

The USGBC has produced outstanding results in sustainable building through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which is currently the most widely used green building program worldwide. In the United States alone, buildings account for 40 per cent of energy use and incur losses of S$130 billion annually from inefficient design. Worldwide, one third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings; LEED is zeroing in on reducing this astonishing figure. 

In little over two decades, the USGBC has gone from its first meeting in the boardroom of the American Institute of Architects, with 60 firms and a few not-for-profit organizations, to 76 chapters, nearly 13,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 198,000 LEED certified professionals. LEED is certifying 1.7 million square feet of building space daily in 150 countries and territories – the equivalent of about 45 football fields.

The USBGC also lobbies policymakers to implement greener building design, and is convinced that greater building efficiency can meet 85 per cent of future demand for energy in the United States alone.  It supported the introduction of the Better Buildings Act of 2014 into the United States House of Representatives—a bill that would amend federal law aimed at improving the energy efficiency of commercial office buildings. It was one of eight national councils that helped found the World Green Building Council.

For climate change to one day be consigned to the dustbin of history as a challenge humanity faced and overcame, organizations and individuals need to play their part to change how we live our lives in support of top-down change. The USBGC demonstrates clearly that such change is eminently possible.