Roger Platt drives global strategy for the organization. He is the immediate past-president of the USGBC. In addition to his role advising the CEO on mid-to long- term strategy matters, he also leads USGBC’s LEED for Cities efforts and business development in the New York City region.

Prior to serving as President of USGBC, Roger was Senior Vice President for Global Policy and Law. Before joining USGBC in 2009, Roger served for fifteen years as Senior Vice President and Counsel at the Real Estate Roundtable (www.rer.org) and before that as a senior land use associate with the Coblentz law firm in San Francisco. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org).

Why do you care about sustainability?

I come at this issue with the passion of someone who has been fortunate enough to see, experience and grow to love some of the most beautiful and delicate places on the planet. So I have learned to see sustainability as about protecting ecosystems and humankind’s relationship with the rest of creation. But recently, in my work with my fellow environmental advocates in South Africa (and around the world) I’m also beginning to see sustainability as encompassing health and social equity goals like ensuring people experience FOR THE FIRST TIME certain basic rights to clean water, to fresh air, and to abundant inexpensive and renewable energy. As the chair of the South African Green Building Council told me once: “In America, it sometimes seems to us, sustainability is about lightening your carbon footprint after you already have ALL of the benefits of a very wealthy economy. In short, you seem to believe sustainability is about having your SECOND car be a Prius.” I try to remember that warning NOT to define sustainability in ways that are irrelevant to two thirds of the world’s population.

What is USGBC’s approach to green design and construction?

At the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) we believe that better buildings lead to better lives. By transforming the way our buildings, cities and communities are designed, built and operated, we can create environmentally and socially responsible, healthy and prosperous places that improve the living standard for everyone. That is why we created the LEED green building system.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the roadmap for achieving that goal. Since the rating system was launched in 1998, it has served as a framework for what it means to design, construct and operate a green building. Today, LEED is the most widely used green building rating system with more than 100,000 projects and more than 160 cities and communities participating. It’s available for virtually all building, community and home project types and helps create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings and spaces.

The rating system takes a holistic approach to green design and construction. LEED provides a framework for making better decisions related to energy, water, waste, indoor environmental quality, transportation and quality of life. It also encourages an integrative design process, which means having all parties at the table from the beginning of the project — from the architect and project owner to the engineer, facilities manager and other stakeholders. This approach supports high-performance, cost-effective project outcomes that take into account the many different relationships and perspectives needed throughout the life cycle of the building.

LEED is a signal that a building or space is going above and beyond to ensure the design, construction and operations meet the highest levels of sustainability. Today, LEED certification is an international symbol of excellence.

What are the challenges associated with sustainability and how do you overcome them?

Green building today is becoming more of a generally accepted practice. Investors, owners, developers and architects understand the economic, environmental and social benefits of building green, but one of the challenges we see project teams face is when they decide to incorporate sustainable practices once the project has already begun. You want to align on those goals at the beginning of the project to ensure everyone is on the same page and the project can run as efficiently as possible. LEED encourages an integrative design process, which brings all the stakeholders involved together at the beginning.

Finally, and this is very concerning we also see a lot of projects promoting their green features or indicating they were designed to meet LEED standards (or most unconvincingly “designed to go beyond LEED”), but they haven’t gone through certification of any kind. Completing the certification process is crucial. It’s a third-party verification that indicates you’ve met high sustainability standards. It gives the work you’ve done credibility and aligns you with a process people trust. Projects that are designed to meet LEED standards are not the same as those that are actually being certified.

What trends are you seeing in your industry related to sustainability?

There are three key trends we’re seeing when it comes to sustainability: health and wellness, resilience and social equity. At USGBC, we believe that buildings are ultimately about people. The spaces where we live, learn, work and play have an impact on our personal health, productivity and happiness. That is why the design, construction and operations of these spaces should prioritize the people who will ultimately occupy them. One of LEED’s goals has always been to enhance individual human health and credits within the rating system help guide project teams to ensure people are at the heart of their decisions. LEED encourages strategies that improve indoor air quality, thermal comfort, daylighting and provide people with access to natural views and outdoor spaces. All of these aspects and more contribute to creating a space that is better for our personal health and well-being and that of our friends and family.

In fact, in a survey we did in 2018, we found that employees who work in LEED-certified green buildings are happier, healthier and more productive than employees in conventional and non-LEED buildings. Eighty-five percent of those in LEED-certified buildings said their access to quality outdoor views and natural sunlight boosts their overall productivity and happiness.

When we talk about health and wellness though it also goes beyond how the building itself impacts people. We’re in an era of climate change and companies, government leaders and families are becoming more aware of the risks they face as a result of severe weather and other climate-related impacts. Project teams understand that in today’s world they need to prioritize more resilient design. Sustainable buildings are the cornerstone of enhancing community resilience. It includes thinking about how buildings and spaces can help us prepare for, adapt to, withstand and recover from catastrophic events. When a community is faced with severe flooding or a hurricane you want to ensure your most critical services are able to stay online and functional, you want to feel confident that the buildings and spaces you rely on will keep you safe. Resilience is built into LEED. The rating system encourages proactive design planning for potential impacts of reasonably expected natural disasters with minimal damage. It also promotes healthy vegetation, soils and aquatic ecosystems that can serve as flood control, as well as appropriate site maintenance. LEED also helps teams assess and adopt more resilient and reliable power infrastructure, by considering strategies, such as islanding and the integration of renewables. Each year, severe weather events cost the U.S. trillions of dollars. By making resilience planning a key part of every project, we can help protect against the growing effects of a changing climate.

Finally, creating a more sustainable world for everyone, means every person. It requires us to ensure that our most vulnerable populations are not being left behind. Social equity is the foundation upon which USGBC’s mission was built. Using green building as a way to encourage socially responsible environments has been at the heart of our work. Green building can provide communities with resources and access to opportunities that can help them reach their full potential. This a critically important trend moving forward, which is why in November last year, we launched USGBC Equity, a new initiative that will highlight and bring attention to the broad spectrum of work that USGBC and its community members are doing around social equity. It is also intended to help USGBC and the green building community navigate where this work needs to go next. The LEED rating system already includes credits linked to social equity and USGBC has a number of initiatives and programs that speak to this topic, but we need to be vigilant about ensuring our decisions are advancing social equity across every project.

Throughout 2020 and beyond, I expect these trends to continue to be major factors in design and construction. Projects that are willing to explore strategies that address each of the these will continue to help push the industry in a more sustainable direction. We’re looking forward to seeing who the leaders will be and helping them celebrate the positive impact they’re making.