World Green Building Council
(Self-Description : August 2008)
THE World Green Building Council is a union of national councils whose mission is to accelerate the transformation of the global built environment towards sustainability. The current member nations of the WorldGBC represent over 50 percent of global construction activity, and touch more than 15,000 companies and organizations worldwide.
WorldGBC members are leading the movement that is globalizing environmentally and socially responsible building practices. Its objective is to rapidly build an international coalition that represents the entire global property industry.
The WorldGBC provides leadership and a global forum to accelerate market transformation from traditional, inefficient building practices to new generation high-performance buildings. This is a critical response strategy for cities and countries worldwide to their national and international commitments to reduce carbon emissions and redress other environmental impacts.
WorldGBC is a business-led coalition. Green Building Councils are consensus-based not-for-profit organizations with no private ownership, and diverse and integrated representation from all sectors of the property industry. They see business as a powerful solution-provider, and are working to improve frameworks that harness business’s ability to deliver.
The Challenge: Buildings and communities are responsible for over 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere. Global awareness of the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental degradation is driving the need for rapid formation of Green Building Councils around the world.
“We have roughly 3,650 days to do something very drastic about this climate change problem or else hundreds of thousands, millions of people, our children, our grandchildren are going to die or be displaced in catastrophes that will occur because of climate change.”
Ira Magaziner, Director of Clinton Climate Initiative, in his opening remarks to the USGBC’s Greenbuild 2006 conference.
Our solution: Green Building Councils are highly effective at engaging leaders across sectors to transform the built environment. It’s proven, replicable-and it’s building momentum.
The World Green Building Council:
- Accelerates the development of emerging councils and rating systems.
- Provides organizational tools, such as advocacy, facilitation, information, and a non-partisan approach, to help people take action locally.
- Provides an international forum for market transformation.
- Creates successful Green Building Councils.
- Acts as the premier voice for global green building initiatives.
Vision: Through leadership collaboration, the global construction industry will transform traditional building practices and fully adopt sustainability as the means by which our environments thrive, economies prosper and societies grow to ensure the future health of our planet.
Mission: Ensure Green Building Councils are successful and have the tools necessary to advance. Stand as the premier international voice for green building design & development. Foster effective communications and collaboration between Councils, countries, and industry leaders. Support effective green building rating systems. Share best practices globally. http://www.worldgbc.org/