Newsletter Stories


Thursday, 06 June 2013
LEED Under Attack in Public Sector

 (© John Stamets for Bullitt Center)© John Stamets for Bullitt Center

June 6, 2013


The US Green Building Council’s LEED program is developed with a big goal in mind: Drive transformation in the marketplace to produce better environmental and social outcomes. This progressive agenda is at the core of the program, shaping the credit system in ways large and small.

While this goal drives LEED’s legitimacy and impact, it also is at the center of a controversy about the standard. Companies and trade associations seeking to stem the advancement of leadership standards are pushing back, in a big way.

At the federal level, there is an effort afoot to require to government to use “ANSI-approved” green building standards, which would effectively ban federal agencies from using LEED, instead requiring the Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes program.

At the state level, similar coordinated efforts are underway in several capitals. Notably, North Carolina is considering legislation that would ban state agencies from using green building standards that do not credit all North Carolina wood equally. Of course, LEED includes a credit for local wood, but advocates for this legislation overlook this inconvenient truth.

Timber and chemical companies that have tried for years to weaken the LEED standards are orchestrating these efforts. Having failed to change the standards, they are now working to limit the choices federal and state agencies are allowed.

It is ironic that interests who espouse the free market are now turning to government regulation to achieve their aims. In addition, the US General Services Administration is in the middle of a review of green building standards. To date, they have found that LEED is every bit as consensus based as any ANSI standard. In fact, a GSA subcommittee found that LEED is more consensus based.

These efforts will continue nonetheless, and we encourage FSC certified businesses to get involved. USGBC is coordinating efforts and we can connect you to the correct people if you are willing to lend your voice.

Read more here.