World Green Building Council

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) is a union of councils from around the world that aims to accelerate global sustainable building practices.

The WorldGBC has endorsed the GBCA as the national green building council for Australia and the official WorldGBC member. The WorldGBC has the sole authority to appoint and direct the formation of green building councils throughout the world.

The WorldGBC was launched in 1998 by David Gottfried, founder of the US Green Building Council and its first president. Formal incorporation followed in 2002, with Council's primary objectives to formalise international communications, help industry leaders access emerging markets and provide an international voice for green building initiatives.

Since its establishment in 2002 the WorldGBC has provided an important non-political global forum for the discussion and promotion of the sustainable transformation of the global property industry. The WorldGBC supports the creation of culturally, climatically, and economically-appropriate rating tools, the design and construction of demonstration green development projects, and other collaborative green building efforts, in both developed and developing countries. The founding countries include Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United States. Within this framework, member councils are working to share knowledge, resources, and common principles, as well as to support emerging councils.

The GBCA has played a prominent role in the WorldGBC. Che Wall, one of the founders of the GBCA was the founding Chairman for five years from 2002-2007. In 2007, current GBCA Chair Tony Arnel was elected onto the WorldGBC Board.

As well as providing strong support to the WorldGBC, the GBCA also provides ongoing advice and assistance to emerging and established green building councils. In 2006, the GBCA worked collaboratively to support the establishment of the Green Building Council of New Zealand and more recently the Green Building Council of South Africa. Both councils have adopted the Green Star rating tool and modified it for the unique conditions of their countries.