Alliance for National & Community Resilience announces collaboration with U.S. Green Building Council to advance resilience

The Alliance for National & Community Resilience (ANCR) recently announced a collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to support the adoption of resilient policies and practices for buildings and communities.

USGBC, best known for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system, works to promote sustainability in building design, construction, and operations. On a similar track, ANCR is creating benchmarks that measure the resilience, or ability to mitigate potential damage, of buildings and communities and offer potential solutions to improve resilience.

The agreement, which comes in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), lays out the organizations’ desire to share strategy and opportunities, as well as identify areas for cooperation and shared market opportunities, both in the United States and worldwide.

Among the organizations’ shared goals are the promotion of education and awareness campaigns regarding the value of building codes and other community resilience measures – and, ultimately, the adoption of such measures by local governments.

There will also be a focus on identifying intersections between the organizations’ rating systems. USGBC’s LEED and RELi guidelines and ANCR’s benchmarks already share a similar mission – creating frameworks that support achievement of high-performance buildings and communities.

“We know that more sustainable buildings are the cornerstone to enhancing community resilience,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president & CEO, U.S. Green Building Council. “Collaborations, such as this one with ANCR, represent a commitment to making the world a better place and influencing others to do better. Addressing and emphasizing resilience through green building and infrastructure certifications will help ensure a more resilient future for all.”

ANCR Executive Director Ryan Colker added, “The U.S. Green Building Council has been incredibly successful in transforming the built environment towards increased sustainability. We look forward to working with USGBC to support the realization of resilient buildings and communities.”

Other opportunities for collaboration outlined in the MOU include leveraging partnerships, research and development, training activities, and public awareness campaigns. As one of the first activities under the MOU, ANCR will partner in a Resilience Summit conducted at Greenbuild on November 19 in Atlanta. For more details on the summit, click here.