Global Impact Day

This brief introduction establishes the day's objectives: advancing practical sustainability strategies, exploring cutting-edge innovations, and understanding the evolving policy landscape that will shape the future of data center design and operations.

As data centers face increasing scrutiny regarding their environmental impact and resource consumption, this session examines the rapidly evolving advocacy and policy environment shaping the sector worldwide. Expert panelists analyze emerging regulations around site development approvals, energy transparency mandates, water usage reporting, carbon reduction targets, and public funding tied to sustainability commitments. The discussion covers regional variations—from EU energy efficiency directives to U.S. state-level requirements and Asia-Pacific grid integration policies—while identifying common themes and best practices for proactive engagement. Attendees gain strategic insights into compliance pathways, upcoming legislative changes, and how to effectively participate in policy conversations that will define data center development standards for the next decade.

This session brings together leading developers and sustainability consultants who will walk through hypothetical data center projects applying the new LEED v5 BD+C rating system. Each participant presents a distinct use case—ranging from hyperscale facilities to colocation centers—demonstrating how to navigate specific credits, overcome implementation challenges, and identify strategic opportunity areas within the updated framework. The discussion provides actionable insights into credit synergies, documentation requirements, and cost-benefit analyses, equipping attendees with practical knowledge to successfully pursue LEED v5 certification for their own data center projects.

This forward-looking session explores the technological frontier of data center sustainability, featuring perspectives from engineering, product innovation, and design disciplines. Panelists discuss breakthrough approaches to energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy integration, advanced cooling systems, and circular economy principles. Topics include AI-driven optimization, liquid cooling innovations, modular construction techniques, and next-generation building materials. The session highlights real-world implementations and pilot programs that are pushing the boundaries of data center performance, offering attendees a comprehensive view of where the industry is headed and which innovations show the greatest promise for scalable adoption.

In this session, panelists will share case studies, best practices, and takeaways from scaling-up reuse on real projects. Following the inspirational presentations, the audience will transition into a guided interactive workshop where participants will learn to identify challenges and overcome obstacles to scale reuse in their home regions. This session will leave you with a new appreciation of the potential of reuse to meet carbon and other environmental goals, and empower you with a toolkit to take action.

This opening session sets the stage for the afternoon and will feature a global outlook on the forces shaping the industry today: emerging trends in green building standards, shifting demand patterns, regional variations, and the broader economic and policy currents influencing decision-making. Particular attention will be given to trends in sustainable real estate, the impact of market fluctuation on investment and decision-making, and the sustainable practices leading organizations are adopting to stay ahead. Grounded in current data and cross-market comparisons, this session will offer a global perspective to help frame the discussions and content that follow throughout the event.

This session will illustrate why the time is right for bold actions to catalyze circularity at scale. Inspiring panelists will share how they are leveraging their position as owners, designers, contractors, policy makers, manufacturers, remanufacturers, and advocates to advance change in real-time. Experts will address the business and social value case for circular construction, manufacturer efforts to create circular materials and buyback programs, and how regional actions are coalescing into shared knowledge and application.

This discussion explores how sustainability has evolved from a project-level checkbox into a core business strategy for leading real estate developers worldwide. The conversation unpacks how LEED certification drives tenant demand, investor confidence, and portfolio-wide value creation, moving from building-level certification to district- and city-scale impact, from design intent to measurable operational performance, and toward a future shaped by LEED v5 and Net Zero pathways. Attendees will leave with a clear view of what defines competitive, forward-looking sustainability leadership in real estate today.

This session will showcase leading policymakers, companies, NGOs, and everything in-between! Be inspired and walk away with the knowledge to drive change and move towards a healthy, circular, and low-embodied carbon material economy.

Some of our most treasured buildings were constructed before current sustainability standards existed, but retrofitting can bring them into compliance without full demolition. This session explores how LEED provides a certification framework for renovating and retrofitting historic buildings as an alternative to teardown and new construction. Attendees will assess the environmental, economic, and cultural case for adaptive reuse, and how LEED certification pathways can guide upgrades to energy performance, systems, and operations while preserving the architectural elements that establish a structure’s historic significance. The session will address the core technical challenge in historic preservation: integrating current and future performance requirements, including energy efficiency and system upgrades, without altering the design details, materials, and craftsmanship that define a building's historic character.

This session will share the inside story of how a fleet of stadiums achieved LEED v4.1 O+M certification, representing one of the largest coordinated sustainability efforts undertaken across the world's largest soccer tournament. Although these stadiums shared a global stage, they were shaped by entirely different local realities and constraints. Each venue varies in age, ownership structure, climate, regulatory environment, fan culture, and operations. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach, this effort relied on tailored strategies, creative problem-solving, and deep collaboration between host venues, soccer federation leadership, and dedicated LEED service providers and USGBC staff. The session will highlight lessons learned in scaling certification across a complex portfolio, demonstrating how LEED can function not only as a building rating system, but as a shared language for sustainability across cultures and geographies.

Sustainability challenges transcend national borders, and effective solutions must do the same. This panel brings together distinguished group of global sustainability leaders for a candid conversation about what it takes to drive progress across international boundaries. Together, they'll explore how cross-border collaboration is shaping critical areas such as sustainable finance, data center performance, and materials innovation, sharing perspectives on where alignment is emerging, where challenges remain, and what it will take to accelerate impact on a global scale. Attendees will gain insight into how leading organizations around the world are working together — and where they still need to — to advance a shared sustainability agenda.