WATFORD, United Kingdom — In a rare move, the World Green Building Council has invited the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method to join as a member, making BREEAM the only organization that's not a Green Building Council to be asked to participate.
BREEAM leaders said the invitation extended by the WGBC recognizes the UK-based organization's accomplishments and its influence in pressing for more environmentally efficient buildings around the world. The BREEAM process was established in 1990.
"We are delighted to be invited to join the WGBC and welcome this move towards inclusiveness and partnership," Martin Wyatt, chief executive of the BRE Group, the developers of BREEAM, said in a prepared statement about the invitation.
"We look forward to working together to drive international sustainability standards on a global basis," he said.
The founding meeting of the World Green Building Council was held in California in 1998. Green building advocates from eight countries attended. The Green Building Councils of Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States were on hand and representatives for the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Canada also were present. The group formally incorporated in 2002.
Green Building Councils for more than a dozen counties have since been established, an almost equal number are considered associated groups and organizations from 23 other countries are prospective or emerging councils, according to the WGBC roster.
The World Green Building Council International Congress convened last week at the USGBC's eighth annual Greenbuild conference, which was held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Logos courtesy of WGBC and BREEAM.
Grass globe photo CC licensed by Flickr user Sebastian Bergmann.