USGBC advocacy and policy highlights: November 2025
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) engages in advocacy across the state, local and federal level for green building initiatives and decarbonization policies.
In November across the federal level their initiatives seek to broaden their reach across Washington D.C. by educating policymakers and creating new allies. On Nov. 12, the record breaking 43-day shutdown ended when Congress passed a funding package. This package extends agencies at current levels until Jan. 30. Come that date, new appropriation bills funding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy (DOE), General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will be agreed upon. Other federal highlights include the DOE’s recently released reorganization plan, a new bill introduced on energy efficiency standards and electrification and the ROAD to Housing Act.
On the state and local level, the USGBC advocacy and policy team reviewed 2,148 bills, prioritized 340 and identified 26 for further engagement. This includes the Maryland Green Building Council updating state’s High Performance Green Building Program on Nov. 20. USGBC commended the step forward that aligns with LEED v5. Looking to the new year, USGBC’s Local Green Building Policy Accelerator is returning to educate. The online program is focused on a small cohort of local governments.
