The green building movement has often been criticized for benefiting the most privileged people in society while leaving others behind. The WELL Equity Rating is trying to turn that around by leveraging building decisions and business practices to address systemic inequities.

Pitched as a roadmap to... Read more

Of the huge sums of money being made available under the Inflation Reduction Act, $1.5 billion is earmarked for urban and community forestry. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to plant and grow the 522 million trees that we need in urban communities, according to the nonprofit American Forests.

But neighborhoods that need trees the... Read more

Bidding on a federal project? Get ready to meet new requirements for climate disclosures and emission targets. A single building project could easily trigger the need to comply.

A proposed rule from the Biden administration would apply to suppliers with at least $7.5 million... Read more

BuildingGreen’s editorial team has been awarding our annual Top 10 green building products for more than 20 years. Our Top 10 is not a “pay-to-play” award. BuildingGreen is an independent company that doesn’t carry ads in its publications, nor does it accept money from product manufacturers for consulting or other services. Our editorial team... Read more

BuildingGreen’s editorial team has been awarding our annual Top 10 green building products for more than 20 years. Our Top 10 is not a “pay-to-play” award. BuildingGreen is an independent company that doesn’t carry ads in its publications, nor does it accept money from product manufacturers for consulting or other services. Our editorial team... Read more

When I saw the push notification from the New York Times pop up on my phone, I gasped. Then I cried. The U.S., the last hold-out, would support creation of a “loss and damage” fund. That’s a pot of money for rebuilding vulnerable countries that are being destroyed by climate-change disasters they did not cause.

Whether it’s the flooding in Pakistan, the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in Florida, or the record-breaking wildfire season in Europe, climate change is in the news daily. Just as there’s an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses, we also need to adapt and invest in resilience.

Increasingly, owners are... Read more

For many of us, the 20th annual Greenbuild conference held in San Francisco was our first large, post-pandemic public event. It was great to see familiar faces, even if some of them were still covered by masks, and it gave us the opportunity to connect with colleagues and learn about important green building trends.

California architects will have to prove they know a thing or five about net-zero-carbon design in order to renew their licenses starting in January 2023. The requirement to report five “ZNCD” continuing education hours every two years, signed into law in 2021, adds to a similar requirement to complete hours on disability... Read more

Is the greenest building the one that’s already built?

Yes! Usually? Sometimes …

Taking carbon into account, it may seem like a no-brainer to retrofit existing buildings rather than build new ones, but to make a good climate case for reuse, you need good data. That’s where... Read more

The second I read the headline, I knew exactly what the article was going to be about. And indeed, “One of the Hottest Trends in the World of Investing Is a Sham,” a New York Times op-ed by New York University associate professor Hans Taparia, slams ESG ratings (short for environmental, social, and governance) as a big, fat... Read more

Even when cooking appliances are not in use, they can emit benzene and other carcinogens into indoor air. In certain circumstances, these “fugitive emissions” can create conditions comparable to living with a smoker, according to a study published in Environmental Science & Technology.

The... Read more

Many of us think of slavery as a thing of the past, but that’s simply not the case—and the building industry has been implicated in perpetuating the problem. A report from COOKFOX Architects, “Survey of Labor Certifications for the Built Environment,” helps building professionals navigate the many programs available for... Read more

When and why did the word “sustainability” in corporate marketing turn into the acronym “ESG”—short for environmental, social, and governance?

I’ve asked a lot of people this question and gotten a lot of different answers. But it seems to come down to this: although some people have been using the term ESG for more than a decade, a much... Read more

At this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), an industry guide on resilience made its debut. Developed by the World Green Building Council, the UN High-level Climate Champions, and C40 Cities, the guide highlights steps that can be taken on a building, community, and city scale to adapt to climate change.... Read more

Short for “environmental, social, and governance,” ESG reporting and ratings started as a Wall Street thing. But ESG is quickly becoming a Main Street thing. It’s gone way beyond big, publicly traded corporations, and a lot of companies, for better or worse... Read more

The score we need: 17.1.

The score we have: 8.1.

In other words, the building industry isn’t anywhere close to hitting necessary climate targets, according to the Global Building Climate Tracker. This index, begun in 2015 by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC, which is part of the United Nations... Read more

It’s a simple plan. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay landowners to let their trees grow bigger before cutting them down.

The hoped-for outcomes are more complex: boosting the carbon sequestration, and the ecological and cultural value, of working forests; producing higher-quality wood products; increasing financial returns... Read more

Impact, agency, and power. These are the focus of a new publication from The American Institute of Architects (AIA): Architects’ Role in Creating Equitable Communities. Through ten focus groups with 67 designers and architects, the authors gathered insights, tools, and strategies for advancing design justice and equity in... Read more

The Declare website from the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) has made it easier to find products that meet criteria for Enterprise Green Communities—a green building certification program for affordable housing. Under the pulldown menu “Alignment,” there are two new options: “Enterprise Green Communities – Meets... Read more