IWBI Unveils New WELL Feature to Recognize Climate Leadership
WELL Innovation Feature encourages organizations to address greenhouse gas emissions as part of broader focus on health and well-being
NEW YORK, September 22, 2021 /3BL Media/ - The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has added a new innovation feature to the WELL Building Standard (WELL) that rewards climate leadership with the goal of accelerating emission reductions in the face of ever-increasing public health impacts of climate change. Released in the Q3 Addendum, the Innovation Feature on Carbon Disclosure and Reduction encourages organizations to assess and disclose their carbon emissions, set science-based reduction targets and move toward carbon neutrality.
“Climate change is the single greatest threat to public health of the 21st century, and we need to deploy all the solutions in our collective toolkit to repair our relationship with the planet,” said IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon. “This new innovation feature rewards organizations for declaring publicly where they stand on carbon emissions and for making measurable and meaningful progress to reduce them."
This WELL innovation feature focuses on direct climate action by holding organizations accountable to their actual greenhouse gas emissions and follows their commitments with science-based targets toward carbon reduction. As these goals apply to targets set at a larger, organizational level, the new WELL feature also is designed to support IWBI’s enterprise and portfolio customers working to reduce their overall carbon impact across all aspects of their organization. The feature awards up to 10 total points for full alignment -- which would fulfill all points in the Innovation concept.
WELL v2 -- the latest version of the WELL Building Standard – has long acknowledged projects for sustainability leadership at a building-scale by rewarding points for projects obtaining certifications by other green building rating systems. It has also supported individual projects in bolstering their achievement with other features that encourage climate action, from limiting red and processed meats to encouraging cycling to work.
Environmental and social sustainability is foundational to IWBI’s values. As identified by IWBI, WELL features align with 16 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with four features directly supporting Goal 13: Climate Action. Additionally, as part of a commitment to provide environmentally sustainable and healthy housing for all, IWBI partnered with Enterprise Community Partners two years ago to enable affordable housing projects pursuing certification through Enterprise’s Green Communities to simultaneously achieve WELL Certification.
The WELL Building Standard is the world’s leading rating system focused on advancing people-first places for everyone, everywhere. Developed over 10 years and backed by the latest scientific research, WELL sets pathways for accomplishing health-first factors that support physical and mental well-being across 10 core concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials mind and community. Rigorous requirements for performance, design interventions, operational protocols and company-wide practices are verified by a third party. WELL also provides a framework for translating research to design and management practices that prioritize people’s health and well-being.
About The International WELL Building Institute
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people first places to advance a global culture of health. IWBI mobilizes its community through the administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and the WELL Health-Safety Rating, management of the WELL AP credential, the pursuit of applicable research, the development of educational resources, and advocacy for policies that promote health and well-being everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.
International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL Portfolio, WELL Portfolio Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rating, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Health-Equity, WELL Performance Rating, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Performance, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.
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