Green Building Initiative (GBI) announced its acquisition of the global rights to the green building rating and certification program Green Globes. The official Green Globes guidelines were introduced in Canada in 2000 and then in the United States in 2004, where it was administered by GBI.
“This acquisition is a clear win for GBI and our growing base of Green Globes users,” said GBI president and CEO Vicki Worden in a press release. “Consolidating Green Globes under GBI was a logical and natural next step to further our mission to accelerate the adoption of green building best practices in the built environment.”
Green Globes was most recently managed by real estate end investment management professional services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which purchased the rights to Green Globes as part of a larger acquisition in 2008. “As a nonprofit, GBI is in a better position to grow the sustainability movement as the sole owner and promoter of Green Globes,” said JLL executive vice president Bob Best in the release.
GBI plans to expand the rating system globally and has established a subsidiary nonprofit in Canada to help support that market.
Correction: A previous version of this story reported that GBI is the administrator of LEED. In fact, Green Business Certification Inc. is the administrator of LEED. ARCHITECT regrets the error.
