U.S. Green Building Council's 2009 - 2013 Strategic Plan Released

Dear USGBC Constituents: It is with great pride and excitement that we would like to share with you U.S. Green Building Council's 2009 - 2013 Strategic Plan.

The Plan was adopted by the USGBC board of directors at its July board meeting following a year long process that engaged our many stakeholders, constituency and leadership. The process was one of the most robust, comprehensive and inclusive that USGBC has ever undertaken in its 15-year history.

The resulting Plan sets a path for USGBC's future that is both visionary in its goals and relevant to our leadership role in transforming the built environment. The Plan also includes a new guiding principle for USGBC, Foster Social Equity. The work of USGBC's Social Equity Task Force was integrated into the Plan's objectives under every goal area.

The Plan's strategic goals provide a set of priorities that will frame USGBC's direction in the coming years. Each goal intentionally addresses the priority issues that the USGBC must respond to and the role that USGBC should play in its response. The goals are:

• Sustainable Cities and Communities: Catalyze and lead the building sector's active participation in the movement to achieve sustainable cities and communities.Climate
• Change and Natural Resources: Lead the dramatic reduction and eventual elimination of building construction and operations' contribution to climate change and natural resource depletion.
• 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.
  

This Plan sets the stage for a new era in USGBC's role in creating a sustainable world for all. We would like to thank the Strategic Planning Committee that provided guidance and direct support to the process along with our excellent consultant team, Meridian Institute, and to all of you who participated in the process. You will find the entire Plan on our Web site.

A webcast describing the Plan will be available in early October. Please take time to review the plan and work with us to achieve its objectives in the coming years.

Thank you for your commitment to USGBC and its mission, and our future.

Sincerely, Rebecca L. Flora S. Richard Fedrizzi
Co-Chair, Strategic Planning Committee CEO, President and Founding Chair,Chair, USGBC

Board of Directors USGBC

LEED 2009

USGBC’s New Strategic Plan is Possible Because of Member Involvement

The USGBC community has direct access to the many conversations, communities and commitments that are part of how we’re moving green building forward.

At the top of that list is LEED, where your involvement has led to LEED buildings being designed, built and operated in every state and in 69 countries.

You have moved USGBC’s programs forward at every opportunity, from a sole focus on new construction in LEED v.2.0 to the development of LEED 2009, a rating system that applies throughout the lifecycle of buildings and across multiple market sectors, and focuses all rating systems on the building impacts that matter most – energy efficiency and climate change.

Member participation, whether on committees, working groups, or during the public comment periods, will ensure that the LEED version that goes to member ballot in October sets a new bar.

Status of LEED 2009.Without question, it is the passionate involvement of our members that drives our success. The expertise our members lend to LEED’s development carries over into the larger arena of green building education at all levels. The knowledge and leadership that members share through LEED Workshops and the diverse Education Provider Program encourage market uptake, drive policy development, and educate the many stakeholders in green building as to why it matters, and how to design, build, operate and finance their projects.

More member involvement opportunities.But while “being green” is an idea that has clearly entered the mainstream, seeing real results on a large scale is still an ambitious goal. Only 3% of new commercial buildings in 2007 are estimated to have met minimum certification levels, and only 0.2% of new residential construction is built green.

It’s clear that the USGBC community must step up our work to increase sustainable practices in new construction, existing building conversions, neighborhood developments, our children’s schools, our public buildings, and every aspect of the built environment. To that end, USGBC has completed our next strategic plan, which will carry us through 2013.

It has been developed with an emphasis on extending the benefits of green building beyond the building footprint and into our cities and communities, and on the reduction and eventual elimination of the building industry’s contributions to climate change and natural resource depletion.At the center of the strategic plan is our strategic imperative of accelerating green building demand, delivery, and accessibility.

It is built on our guiding principles and introduces one more: the need to elevate social equity as a value and outcome integral to sustainable built environments. The plan lays out a set of clearly defined strategic initiatives defining how we will focus our talent and resources.

It will function as our roadmap for delivering immediate and measureable results across the wide scope of work that is necessary for true market transformation.
Read the Strategic Plan (PDF)» Find out more about how you can take part in shaping the future of USGBC and the green building movement as a whole.

From the US Green Building Council

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