'LEED's Journey In India Has Been Incredible'

After 13 years in India and four industry-led iterations of improvements, LEED has been tried and tested repeatedly, under all geographies, and using all building types. Today, it offers the Indian building community an unrivaled framework for project planning, design, construction, and ongoing operations and maintenance. Major corporations, investors, developers and governments worldwide recognize it as a sophisticated way to manage sustainability and performance across vast portfolios.

BW Businessworld talked to Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO of the US Green Building Council and the Green Business Certification Inc:

How has been LEED's journey, in context of acceptance and embracing of the green building concept in India so far?
With more than 40% of India's population projected to be in urban areas by 2030, the volume of green building will increase dramatically, reaching 20% of all building stock by as soon as 2018. India was one of the earliest adopters of LEED is the third largest market for LEED outside the US. LEED's journey in India has been incredible. In fact, as a native of Chennai, I am proud to say that the first certified green building in India in 2003 was a LEED certified building. In those early days, the US Green Building Council worked closely with the Indian building community to establish a foundation or base for LEED.

Are Indian corporates willing to pay a higher price, if involved, with respect to the economic viability of these projects?
In many respects, the success of today's green building movement is largely based on economics. LEED is not just a tool to save the planet, but it is also a tool that contributes to corporate profits and their employees. So yes, the economic viability of LEED is tremendous. And one of the things Indian corporates - and corporates around the world - are learning is that, with proper planning, you don't need to pay more to build with LEED. Perhaps more importantly, because of the savings that can be accrued in energy consumption, water use, waste reduction, improved worker productivity, and etc., companies are seeing dramatic, building-related improvements to their bottom lines.

The report mentions that LEED helps attract new foreign investment, increase the competitiveness of real estate portfolios etc. Does the green building credential help developers for branding purpose?
Let me begin by stating that when it comes to real estate, developers will develop what their clients pay them to develop. And clearly, in India, green building is on the rise.

That said, in November, 2014 USGBC conducted research within our own Indian member base. The audience includes not only developers but also architects, engineers, building owners and operators, investors, tenants, and other building industry professionals. What we heard was that 87% of them anticipate that the use of LEED in India will increase. Given year-to-date numbers regarding new LEED registrations and certifications in India, those expectations were well founded.

What are the main challenges?
Continued technical buildout of green building rating systems and creating future capacity. This is why GBCI is in India. This is why we hired more than 40 staffers who know the Indian market first hand. This team is tasked with building alliances and awareness throughout the country. Through our LEED International Roundtable, we have also been working closely with the Indian building community to review LEED credits and adapt them for in-market needs, whether they be geographic, climatic, or resource-related. We also continue to evolve our product. The latest iteration - LEED v4 - puts much greater emphasis on performance, accountability, and the collection of data. It is ideally suited for the Indian building community as it embarks on its quest to create 100 Smart Cities. To summarize, we feel that this broad level of commitment to India will, over time, help build awareness of LEED as valuable and trusted resource.