Nonprofit membership organisation behind the LEED green building rating system, providing certification, credentials, education and advocacy for sustainable buildings and communities.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a private 501(c)3 membership-based nonprofit founded in 1993 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its work spans the United States and globally, focused on transforming how buildings and communities are designed, built, and operated. The organisation convenes architects, engineers, developers, policymakers and sustainability professionals through a membership base of more than 4,000 member organizations.
USGBC is best known for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the world's most widely recognized green building rating system. LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient and cost-effective green buildings; projects certified under it are designed to save more than 120 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. Certification and credentialing for LEED and other sustainability programmes are administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), a USGBC-managed organisation. USGBC also delivers education, credentials, advocacy and technical resources that serve as a platform for advancing building practices.
The council's technical scope covers green building rating systems, building decarbonization, community resilience, ecosystem restoration, occupant well-being, and energy and environmental design. Its market transformation work reaches across architecture, engineering, real estate development, construction, building operations and facilities management, and policy and government. Over three decades of operation, USGBC has pursued a collaborative approach spanning multiple industries and professions.
