The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Rick Fedrizzi, Mike Italiano, and David Gottfried in 1993, is a private membership-based nonprofit organization that promotes environmentalism in building design, construction, and operation.

Much of USGBC’s activity is based on promoting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Federal, state, and local governments give millions of dollars of tax advantages annually to encourage private architects and construction companies to achieve LEED certification. LEED has been criticized for failing to promote energy efficiency and using arbitrary criteria. ¹

USGBC hosts an annual convention that had up to 20,000 attendees in 2018. The convention’s featured speakers have included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and astrophysicist and popularizer of scientific topics Neil deGrasse Tyson. ²

History

In the late 1980s, Kansas City architect Bob Berkebile tried to institute a new set of environmental standards into the guidelines set by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Berkebile’s proposal was rejected by the organization’s board, but at the 1989 AIA convention, members popularly overrode the board and formed the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), chaired by Berkebile, to write the standards. COTE soon collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on federal construction standards. COTE received a $1 million EPA grant, and in 1993, COTE oversaw the environmental refurbishing of the White House under President Bill Clinton (D). ²

In 1993, real estate developer David Gottfried and attorney Mike Italiano approached COTE with an offer to begin fundraising from architectural firms and construction companies, but COTE was concerned that the private sector would be resistant to measures that would increase building costs. Soon after, Gottfried, Italiano, and marketing executive Rick Fedrizzi formed the U.S. Green Building Council to fulfill their vision and spread environmentalist building standards throughout the private sector. ²

LEED

Background

The U.S. Green Building Council is largely based on promoting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in buildings, a set of standards first developed by USGBC in 1998. LEED-certified buildings are designed to reduce the impact of climate change, support human health, preserve water, limit impacts on biodiversity, support weather-dependent energy sources, and limit the impact on the local community. As of late 2023, there were 105,000 LEED-certified buildings in 190 countries.^{3 4}

According to a 2018 article, building codes now incorporate LEED standards throughout the country and LEED certification. According to former USGBC president Mahesh Ramanujam, “Green building is now a $1 trillion global industry.” ²

Criticism

In 2009, the New York Times criticized LEED certification for having misleading standards. For instance, the LEED-certified federal building in Youngstown, Ohio, had low energy efficiency and didn’t qualify for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Label; the building qualified for LEED by “rack[ing] up points for things like native landscaping rather than structural energy-saving features.” The article also stated that the U.S. Green Building Council’s own research found that 25 percent of new LEED-certified buildings saved less energy than expected. ⁵

In 2011, Green Building Advisor published an article “How to Cheat* at LEED for Homes,” which provided 22 tips for boosting a LEED score, including installing a shoe shelf and aggressively marketing the “green-ness” of a home online for publicity. ⁶

A 2012 USA Today review of 7,100 LEED-certified buildings made similar observations, calling LEED “a system that often rewards minor, low-cost steps that have little or no proven environmental benefit.” The report singled out the Palazzo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas which achieved LEED-certification partially by constructing bike racks, placing room cards that inform guests on how towels are replaced, and giving preferred parking to fuel-efficient cars. The report found that other buildings received points in the review process for giving employees individual light switches, constructing buildings out of common material like steel, installing a fire alarm system that “minimizes stresses on the firefighters,” and building a video game break room for workers. ⁷

In a 2012 testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Oberlin College professor John Scofield stated, “There then appears to be no scientific basis for institutions such as colleges, universities, or the Federal Government to require LEED certification as a [greenhouse gas] or energy reduction strategy for its buildings.” ⁸

A 2012 article from Green Building Advisors summarized the criticisms of LEED as being too expensive, requiring too much documentation, preferring all-glass buildings, and “Questionable energy savings [on the buildings], primarily because they’re all-glass.” ⁹

Greenpeace has criticized USGBC for validating the Sustainable Forest Initiative, a logging practices standard, under LEED. Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and the World Wildlife Fund, prioritize the Forest Stewardship Council as a superior logging standard. ¹⁰

Joe Lstiburek, “the godfather of building science,” has criticized LEED certification for being arbitrary and overly stringent; in a 2012 article, Lstiburek described how the “LEED fascists made things difficult and unworkable” when trying to build a heated floor for a client. ^{9 11}

Advocacy

The U.S. Green Building Council states that its political advocacy goals are to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent on environmentally friendly government buildings, to inform lawmakers on green building technology, and to promote LEED standards. ¹²

USGBC worked with elected officials to pass the Better Buildings Act in 2015, federal legislation that requires the Administrator of General Services Administration to publish guidelines to reduce energy costs in commercial buildings. ¹³

USGBC supported the passage of the Streamlining Energy Efficiency for Schools Act which ordered the U.S. Department of Energy to collect and disseminate information on federal programs to promote energy efficiency. ¹⁴

Green Business Certification Inc.

In January 2008, the U.S. Green Building Council launched the Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) as an independent 501(c)(6) to provide certification for LEED and other environmental standards. The GBCI has offices in China, India, Dubai, Mexico, and Munich. ¹⁵ In 2021, GBCI earned over $41 million in revenue. ¹⁶

Leadership

Peter Templeton has been the president of the U.S. Green Building Council and its affiliate Green Business Certification Inc. since November 2021, and has worked in a variety of roles in the organization and its affiliates almost continuously since 2000. From 2019 to November 2021, Templeton was the president of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. From 2012 to 2018, he worked as president Green Business Certification Inc. From 2000 to 2008, Templeton worked in a variety of roles in USGBC, ending as senior vice president. Templeton started his career as a program officer at AED. ¹⁷

Funding

In 2021, the U.S. Green Building Council generated $31,274,085 in revenue, including $21,559,728 from program revenue and $6,114,371 from grants. ¹⁸

In 2019, USGBC received a $500,000 grant from Bank of America to support LEED certification in 15 cities and communities. ¹⁹

From 2012 to 2014, USGBC received $300,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. ²⁰

In 2013, the New York chapter of the USGBC received $100,000 from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. ²¹

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3. “LEED rating system.” U.S. Green Building Council. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.usgbc.org/leed.
4. “Mission and Vision.” U.S. Green Building Council. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.usgbc.org/about/mission-vision.
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15. “About GBCI.” GBCI. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.gbci.org/about.
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21. “U.S. Green Building Council, NY Chapter.” Doris Duke Foundation. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.dorisduke.org/grants/what-weve-funded/Grant-Recipients/US-Green-Building-Council-NY-Chapter.