iiSBE Isn't Out to Compete

iiSBE Isn’t Out to Compete

I appreciated the good coverage you provided on the SB2000 conference and the GBC process (

EBN

Vol. 10, No. 1). You also quoted David Gottfried as expressing a concern that iiSBE’s organizers were “...actively undermining his efforts to promote the World Green Building Council. “ I think a little clarification is in order. We had a slow start-up period, mainly because all of us were busy with our day jobs. This may have given David Gottfried the impression that we were overlapping his efforts, but the decision to launch iiSBE was in fact taken several months before the WGBC initiative was announced.

With the task of managing GBC, iiSBE already includes more than 20 countries, so we are quite pleased with our range of representation. The most important point, however, is that we do not see ourselves as competing with the WGBC. Our organization, beyond managing GBC, will concentrate on information exchange and dissemination, while I can see WGBC playing a very useful role in helping countries establish their own Green Building Councils to implement green building labeling systems.

It’s a big world out there, and we think there will be many opportunities for iiSBE to play a cooperative role with WGBC, CIB, IEA and other international agencies or groups.

Nils Larsson

Executive Director

iiSBE

Ottawa, Canada