Build It Green provides strategic assistance to local governments for developing, promoting, and implementing their green building policies and programs.

As awareness increases among state and local government agencies about the economic, health, environmental and social benefits of green building, a corresponding need exists for effective green building policies that these agencies can embrace and promote to their constituents. Build It Green works at the state and local level to establish credible, effective policies and programs that will provide the foundation for green building to become standard practice. The policies we develop and promote are:

• Complementary and Consistent. Build It Green’s green building guidelines, policies and programs are intentionally crafted to be consistent and complementary with California’s energy and water utility programs, building and energy codes, and reputable national green building programs such as ENERGY STAR® and LEED™.
• Comprehensive. We promote policies that provide credible minimum thresholds for all categories of green building, including energy, water, health and natural resources.
• Inclusive and Transparent. We develop guidelines and policies in a nonadversarial, open process with all interested stakeholders.
• Flexible. The policies we recommend are flexible enough to be adapted to regional needs and contexts without weakening their integrity.

Build It Green has developed an Implementation Toolkit to help local governments adopt green building policies. Build It Green’s staff works with local government staff and officials to help them take advantage of all the resources in the Toolkit. Services provided by Build It Green include:

• Establishing and supporting Public Agency Councils in priority regions around the state
• Conducting training for local government officials, policy makers, and staff
• Benchmarking and tracking local government policies, programs, and incentives to tap into emerging best practices and avoid “reinventing the wheel”

--> Contact us to learn more about the services we offer for local governments