Throughout my decades of work in the industry, the most common question that I am repeatedly asked is simply, “What is a green building?”

I have spent a great deal of my career ensuring that a greater awareness of better building practices — of greener buildings that reduce their overall carbon footprint — take root in countries around the world. Yet, even after driving the widespread adoption of the LEED green building certification standard from 35 to 182 countries and territories and helping to ensure India became the world’s fourth largest market for green building during my tenure as President and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: The world is long overdue for a more tangible definition — one that will serve as the key to ensuring the world’s building sector is a foundational force in reversing the existential impacts of climate change and securing an inhabitable Earth for the foreseeable future.

Nearly 40% of the world’s global emissions come from the built environment. Additionally, only 0.023% of all buildings worldwide are officially labeled as net zero. — and even those only address Scope 1 emissions (direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by a building) and Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy consumed by a building). They largely ignore Scope 3 emissions (emissions resulting from activities associated with a building but not directly produced by it, such as emissions from the production and transportation of materials used in construction or from the disposal of waste generated by building operations. This can be attributed to the fact that Scope 3 emissions are complex and intimidating, but they are critical as they can account for as much as 80-90% of a building’s total carbon emissions.

For a building to be truly green, it must comprehensively address Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The task ahead is straightforward — the world cannot reduce and effectively eliminate its carbon footprint at scale without redefining green building through the lens of net zero, and furthermore, through ensuring the veracity of a net zero building definition that includes the elimination of Scope 3 emissions.

Green building is the origin story — but net zero is the new frontier and the pioneering path toward the lasting and resilient infrastructure that India and countries everywhere deserve. As the world’s premiere independent net zero certification body, the Global Network for Zero has redefined green building through the lens of zero emissions, defining a net zero building as the elimination of a structure’s Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. 

The reality is that emissions are at the root of the world’s — and India’s — biggest hurdles. As the culprit behind poor air quality, a growing number of public health challenges, the increased severity and frequency of extreme weather events, and more, any viable plan must ensure a net zero building sector — with a Scope 3-centric path forward — becomes the driving force of a net zero economy for India and the world. 

Consider that at COP26, India announced its ambition to become net zero by 2070. With Prime Minister Modi’s vision for achieving Viksit Bharat 2047, we have the opportunity to accelerate that work. We have the chance to bolster our redefinition of what green building truly means for the well-being and future of civilization — but only if we wrestle with the reality that a truly developed nation must be a wholly decarbonized nation. Therefore, if we are to become the world’s third largest economy in less than a quarter of a century, if we are to lay a blueprint for countries around the globe, then we can and must chart a more deliberate and expedited path to zero — one that emboldens better building measures that will uphold sustainable growth and development, and secure future generations of prosperity for India. 

With India’s current ranking as the frontrunner in net zero building progress, we are equipped to do this. In fact, there is no better time to capitalise on our current position, focus on Scope 3 emissions solutions, and empower the nation’s leaders to turn our time and resources to the building sector as an engine for progress and a driving force in the accelerated decarbonisation of India and beyond.