Green Building Activity Continues To Grow Globally

The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced the results of the Dodge Data & Analytics “World Green Building Trends 2018” SmartMarket Report, to which USGBC is a contributing partner. Overall, global green building activity continues to rise with significant increases expected in 19 countries during the next three years. Importantly, nearly half of survey respondents expect the majority of their projects in the next three years will be green buildings.

The study was conducted in 86 countries and surveyed 2,000 building professionals, including architects, contractors, consultants, developers, engineering firms and investors. Adjustments to the methodology for respondent recruitment resulted in a more balanced share of participants who belong to green building councils, compared to previous years.

As green building becomes more common, certification becomes more of an expectation in many markets. Although client demands and environmental regulations remain top motivators, creating healthier buildings emerged as an important trigger for green building globally. According to the study, improving occupant health ranks first among social drivers for green building, followed by encouraging sustainable business practices and improved worker productivity.

“The future of green building is focused on performance but, as the study shows, most of the time this practice can be limited in scope,” says Mahesh Ramanujam, USGBC’s president and CEO. “There has been no increase in the use of metrics to track performance in the last three years, and now there is no excuse for it. It is not enough to demonstrate leadership at a point in time. We want all green buildings to continue to demonstrate leadership long after they are constructed and occupied. That is why USGBC has been laser-focused on bringing building-performance benchmarking tools, like Arc and LEED v4.1, to market: to make it easier for all projects to take strides toward improving the health and wellbeing of the people who occupy them every day.”

To learn more, download the “World Green Building Trends 2018” SmartMarket Report.