The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Washington, D.C., and the BRE Group (BRE), UK, announced a partnership that will promote the expertise of both organizations and harness their combined industry insights to deliver a new industry approach to green building performance, solutions and benchmarking.

USGBC and BRE will highlight the role that buildings can play in improving environmental, economic and health outcomes and positively impact the quality of life.

“USGBC and BRE have led the green building community for nearly two decades,” says Mahesh Ramanujam, president & CEO, USGBC. “But, there is still much work that needs to be done, and the stakes have never been higher. This collaboration allows us to further leverage our tools and resources to scale up reductions in carbon emissions associated with buildings and accelerate on all fronts.” 

The objectives that USGBC and BRE will immediately pursue and explore are to:

• Increase the level of engagement of existing buildings in the measurement, reporting and improvement of their environmental, social and wellbeing impact.
• Embrace a digital strategy that will raise combined technological capabilities and establish industry-wide common data standards and protocols to make platforms simpler, smarter and more intelligent.
• Conduct research to identify future transformation opportunities to improve the sustainability credentials of the world’s buildings, communities and cities.

“BRE is the world’s leading building science center,” says Niall Trafford, chief executive officer, BRE Group. “We have been at the forefront of developing knowledge and standards for almost 100 years. We sponsor and conduct research [that] continually improves productivity, quality, environmental performance, safety and well-being in the built environment. Our mission is to build a better world together, and this partnership will enable us to substantially extend our reach and impact around the world. Now is a critical time to act. BRE and USGBC are building the future. What we can do together is truly strong than anything we do alone.” 

Collectively, LEED and BREEAM have certified the assessments of over 640,000 buildings across more than 126,000 commercial, residential, infrastructure, community and city projects in 167 countries and territories. To date, there are more than 167,000 projects registered to LEED and BREEAM.

“As the world’s global green building leaders, USGBC and BRE share not only a common vision, but also a responsibility to keep moving the market forward,” adds Ramanujam. “The amount of work we need to mitigate climate change and realize a sustainable future for all cannot be done by any single organization. In order to truly make an impact, we need all hands on deck and the combined power of the two leading green building certification programs – LEED and BREEAM – to help power a new way forward.” 

 The collaboration will also leverage USGBC and BRE’s combined market knowledge, partnerships and collective tools through LEED, BREEAM and other rating systems to address new and existing commercial buildings, infrastructure, landscape, power, waste, finance and more.