International Green Construction Code (IgCC)

The 2021 International Green Construction Code® (IgCC®) provides the design and construction industry with the single most effective way to deliver sustainable, resilient, high-performance buildings. The IgCC is developed collaboratively by the International Code Council, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), ASHRAE, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). These developing organizations envision a new era of building design and construction that includes environmental health and safety as code minimums.

The IgCC provides the design and construction industry with the single, most effective way to deliver integrated energy conservation, water efficiency, site and material sustainability, land use, and indoor environmental quality.

Adopting the IgCC

The IgCC is a critical part of the toolkit for jurisdictions with robust climate and energy efficiency goals. It provides adoptable code language for communities to go beyond the requirements contained in other model codes and standards to create green, sustainable buildings. A version of the IgCC is currently adopted or in use in 13 states and Washington D.C. as well as by the United States General Services Administration and the Department of Defense. See who has adopted the IgCC here.

In the U.S., buildings account for over 12% of water use, 29% of energy-related CO2 emissions, 65% of all waste outputs, and more than 76% of electricity consumption. Sustainable, green buildings offer solutions to many of these problems by conserving resources, regenerating sites, and providing economic and societal benefits. Green and sustainable building strategies reinforce societal health/life/safety benefits that building codes offer, providing resilience to natural hazards, climate change, resource consumption and management, and service

The 2021 edition offers jurisdictions these expanded benefits:

  • Enforceable code language
  • Full compatibility with the International Codes® (I-Codes®) published by the Code Council as well as ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and many other referenced standards
  • Extended scope that covers areas of sustainable buildings and sites beyond the energy conservation provisions of the IECC
  • Measures that result in better indoor environments, lower impact on natural resources, better neighborhood connections and improved walkability
  • Ability to customize which requirements to adopt through a Jurisdictional Options table
  • Appendix L, which aligns IgCC requirements with core elements of LEED versions 4.0 and 4.1
  • Appendix M, which provides options for residential compliance with the National Green Building Standard (ICC 700)

The IgCC is a public-private collaboration that provides green model code requirements for jurisdictions to adopt and implement. As a result, governments do not have to take on the high cost of developing their own code from scratch and benefit from the code uniformity among adopting jurisdictions.

 

Access the IgCC

Available Now 2021 IgCC

Resources for Adopting Jurisdictions