Greenbuild's 2024 Summits & Workshops

Greenbuild's four summits, taking place Tuesday, November 12th, will dive into critical topics within the green building space, offer continuing education credits, and are included with a Conference or Student pass.

Speakers coming soon!

Greenbuild In-Person Summits

Greenbuild is launching four all-new Summits in 2024 – Sustainable Finance and the Built Environment, Phius Passive Building, Resilient Places, Regenerative Ecosystems and Building Materials. These Summits will take place in-person, Tuesday, November 12th. Each Summit includes a keynote kickoff, a full day of sessions specifically designed for each topic and opportunities to network.

Summits are available only for attendees with a Conference or Student pass.

Sustainable Finance and the Built Environment

Finance and environmentalism once stood at opposite ends of the table; but today, frameworks for standardizing and evaluating ESG performance are moving to the accounting department. Following decades of work to professionalize and operationalize these concepts, we are witnessing a seismic shift in how companies are internally and externally evaluated and held accountable for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments and performance.

This Summit will inspire participants to envision a future where financial decisions actively contribute to sustainable and inclusive development. Participants can expect to deepen their understanding of the role sustainable finance principles, play in creating healthier and more resilient built environments as well as address economic aspects crucial to long-term positive change.

Phius Passive Building

Phius passive building principles offer a path to a built environment that supports the health of people and the planet. The Phius Standard is already being implemented to create healthy, efficient, resilient buildings of all types and sizes in climate zones across the United States and beyond. Fostering the continued uptake of Phius projects is a multifaceted effort rooted in the sharing of knowledge among green building professionals.

This Summit will explore the Phius passive building standard and associated design strategies from varying perspectives. Attendees will gain unique insights into passive building development, covering design premiums, HVAC integration, real-world case studies, and embodied carbon considerations.

Resilient Places

Catastrophic storms, severe wildfires, and the hottest temperatures on record: climate resilience has become a mainstream concern, underscoring the urgency with which buildings and communities must adapt to support human health and safety in new ways.

This Summit fosters resilience at the intersection of spaces and communities, exploring innovative solutions and partnerships and the critical role buildings play in safeguarding vulnerable populations facing escalating environmental challenges. Attendees will be empowered to create resilient, adaptable, and inclusive places that mitigate and respond to inevitable climate impacts.

Regenerative Ecosystems

When we think about conserving nature we don’t usually prioritize the built environment. Yet at this critical global juncture of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change, the buildings industry must be open to integrated approaches to ecological conservation and decarbonization. Nature and communities should coexist harmoniously and regeneratively in the spaces where we live, work and play.

This Summit will explore the emerging trends and best practices that leverage buildings as catalysts for biodiversity protection, energy efficiency, and environmental impact. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals passionate about integrating nature-based solutions into the built environment.

Building Materials

As embodied carbon becomes a larger share of buildings’ emissions profile in the coming decades, materials will require novel approaches, nature-informed solutions, and a great deal of innovation. Building products of tomorrow need to be multiattribute and encompass circular, low-carbon and healthy concepts. Innovation will only happen through collaboration among aligned organizations, adequate focus and funding for the next wave of products, and recognition of leadership criteria through rating systems like LEED, Living Building Challenge, and WELL.

The Greenbuild Material Summit will focus on these emerging trends and provide harmonized solutions for manufacturers and project teams looking to optimize building materials.

Greenbuild Workshops

Greenbuild’s 2024 workshops are half-day tailored opportunities to connect with experts in your field and receive real-time solutions to your challenges. On Tuesday, November 12th, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Greenbuild will introduce three ALL-NEW workshops that will bring you technical and hands-on perspectives to accelerate your projects.

Workshops are available only for attendees with a Conference or Student pass.

Future-Proofing Decarbonization with LEEDv5

What decisions do we need to make for buildings we are designing, constructing, and operating to swiftly decarbonize the building industry? What steps should we take to initiate this process, and what tools does USGBC offer to facilitate this?

LEED v5 has been holistically created to guide decisions and actions to move us towards our global climate goals. It provides clear steps for delivering new buildings with ultra-low greenhouse gas emissions and rewards existing buildings for leadership and planning to hit future decarbonization targets for buildings with ultra-low carbon emissions. Tuesday, November 12, 1pm - 5pm In this workshop, participants will gain an understanding of the importance and utility of decarbonization plans, how to establish these plans for individual assets regardless of where they are in the lifecycle and how to tie that into portfolio level planning.

Walk away with an approach for strategic decarbonization planning and action, an understanding of how USGBC tools can facilitate this effort and a knowledge of how the various USGBC programs, including LEEDv5, will approach and reward decarbonization efforts.

Product Roll-out Launch Workshop – New User Training for Portfolio Performance

The urgency of global challenges requires the green building community to accelerate action across new and existing building portfolios. In practice, this means expediting action plans, tracking actions and verifying improvements to meet goals across whole organizations and portfolios. This workshop is for sustainability professionals who understand this need and are ready to start applying actions at a portfolio scale. Tuesday, November 12 8am - 12pm USGBC’s new performance at scale tool is available. Join this session to learn how to use this new tool and its core features and tools. Understand the KPIs available and verification methodology, and the required evidence and documentation needed.

You will be able to engage with a USGBC Product Coach and GBCI verification/review team to learn how to apply these tools for your portfolio needs. The workshop will provide a hands-on walk through of the integrated hub portfolio tools. Learn how to register and create portfolios, set, view and track custom targets, import from GRESB, ENERGY STAR, and other 3rd party tools, and use Portfolio Performance Verification Application and Efficiency Analysis processes.

This session will teach sustainability and green building professionals about GBCI's new inclusive verification service for building portfolio-level performance outcomes to ensure transparency, progress, and target achievement at scale.

Achieving Zero-Waste Goals with TRUE

TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) is the first zero-waste certification program dedicated to measuring, improving and recognizing zero-waste performance through sustainable resource management. Administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), TRUE enables facilities, portfolios, events and construction sites to define, pursue and achieve their zero-waste goals, supporting decarbonization efforts and public health.

This workshop will provide a deep understanding of TRUE Certification and equip attendees with the essential tools to transform their waste management approach into a commodity-driven, resource-centric, zero-waste plan that contributes to a circular economy. Focus will be on the key components of the TRUE Rating System which include training, redesigning systems and materials, Environmental Preferred Purchasing and the financial benefits of zero-waste. TRUE for Events and Construction will also be reviewed. It will also highlight the TRUE Advisor and how those professionals can help projects implement strategies and achieve certification.

This interactive workshop teaches the importance of stakeholder engagement, steps for collecting the right data, the zero-waste hierarchy and tools for effectively communicating results to build support for TRUE certification.

Using case studies from TRUE certified facilities – including the renovated USGBC Headquarters – green building professionals can learn how to achieve zero-waste goals.