GBCI hosts LEED Performance Challenge for cities in India

The Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), global certification body for LEED projects and the US Green Building Council (USGBC) on Monday announced a “LEED Performance Challenge’ which enables Indian cities to share their latest performance data competitively and benchmark it against other cities locally, nationally, and globally.

According to a press release, the LEED Performance Challenge aims to develop more sustainable, healthy buildings, communities and cities, and benchmark how they are planned, developed and measured against global standards.

The LEED Performance Challenge uses the LEED rating system to evaluate a city’s ability to implement energy efficiency, water preservation, waste management, health and wellness, sustainable sites, and other important infrastructural elements. This new platform for cities is being hosted by the Smartnet portal, an initiative by the Ministry of Urban Development in collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs and other Government initiatives instituted to support

The city authorities have until August 31 to collate and submit their information. A representative of the winning city will attend USGBC’s annual Greenbuild Conference to be held in Los Angeles from October 5 to 7.

Mahesh Ramanujam, CEO of the US Green Building Council and President of GBCI, said, “We are grateful to be aligned with the Government of India on the LEED Performance Challenge, and we believe this is yet another opportunity to accelerate the development of sustainable cities on a global scale and to pass on the legacy of sustainability to our children and for the generations to come.”