Federal, state and local governments recognize the importance of leading by example in energy and green building policy. Improving resource efficiency represents an enormous opportunity to save taxpayer money, save energy and water, and drive investment and jobs. At every level, we see policies and practices that benefit the broader building industry.

• USGBC Guide to the Infrastructure and Investment Act
• 2015 GAO Report: Third-party Green Building Certification Helps Agencies Implement Key Requirements (federal)
• Better Buildings, Better Policy: A Compilation of Green Building Policy Adoptions in the U.S. (state and local)
• Green Building Performance: A Post Occupancy Evaluation of 22 Buildings (federal)
• Guiding Green Building Policy (state and local)
• LEED Saves Money, Creates Jobs and Leads by Example (federal)
• National Academy of Sciences Endorses LEED for Pentagon Project (federal)
• Public Procurement and the Private Supply of Green Buildings
• State and Local Governments: Applying LEED to Meet Policy Goals
• State and Local Public Buildings Brief

Governments help support robust private sector green building activity with policies to incentivize building green and removing unnecessary barriers. At USGBC, we promote policies that foster market transformation, including structural incentives like density and height bonuses and expedited or no-cost permitting, information mechanisms like benchmarking, and financial incentives like tax credits, grants and low interest loans.

• Coalition to Extend and Improve the 179D Tax Deduction for Energy Efficient Buildings
• Encouraging Building Energy Improvements Through Tax Incentives
• Green Buildings for Cool Cities
• How Arlington County is Incentivizing LEED
• LEED in Motion Residential
• Washington, DC, Building a Green Code

Building codes and regulations play an integral role in fostering the progress necessary to realize far-reaching and truly sustainable buildings and communities. States and cities have critical roles in improving baseline-building requirements, and in establishing policies that promote best-in-class building strategies and practices. We work to support this transformation and to help align baseline building code with above-code green building certification using LEED, to facilitate seamless improvement.

• Better Buildings, Better Policy: A Compilation of Green Building Policy Adoptions in the U.S., 2011-2014
• Green Codes for California: A Progress Report and Recommendations from LEED & CALGreen User Group
• Greening the Codes Brief
• State and Local Governments: Applying LEED to Meet Policy Goals
• Washington, DC, Building a Green Code

Sustainable communities look beyond a single building and holistically use smart design and construction and operation practices to enhance community connectivity and wellness and reduce environmental impacts, from effects on local waterways to contributions to global warming. Public policy supporting sustainable communities can also unlock economic growth and provide important opportunities to build in-demand skills in the construction workforce. Through our work with Resilient Communities for America and other partnerships, we support planning, design, and building strategies that help communities build better, more resilient futures.

View all advocacy resources.