Month: July 2025

CHPS joins USGBC’s Center for Green Schools in landmark partnership to strengthen support for healthy, high-performance educational facilities nationwide

In a transformative move for the sustainable schools sector, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) is becoming part of USGBC, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of green building standards for educational facilities. This strategic transition brings together two industry leaders to create an unprecedented platform for advancing healthy, sustainable, and high-performance schools across the United States.

Strategic Partnership Built on Shared Vision

To build on a 20-year commitment to supporting U.S. schools, CHPS is becoming part of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This partnership leverages the complementary strengths of both organizations to create a comprehensive approach to sustainable school design and operation, while ensuring continuity for existing stakeholders.

Transition Timeline and Support: Projects registered with CHPS will have two years to complete verification, with CHPS Designed, Verified, and Verified Leader certifications available until June 30, 2027. Current CHPS members will automatically receive proportional USGBC memberships, and projects transitioning to LEED will maintain CHPS pricing until certification completion.

Enhanced LEED for Schools Framework

The organizations are integrating CHPS criteria into LEED’s priority credit library, leveraging substantial overlap in energy efficiency, indoor air quality, daylighting, and resource stewardship. This creates enhanced pathways for schools seeking comprehensive green building certification while maintaining K-12-specific performance standards that have made CHPS successful.

A new collaborative for green school design excellence will convene K-12 districts and building industry stakeholders to translate research, create practical tools, and set ambitious goals for sustainable educational facilities.

Opportunities for Building Services Professionals

This transition creates significant opportunities for streamlined project delivery and enhanced certification strategies, including:

  • Schools seeking LEED for Schools certification with enhanced K-12-specific criteria
  • Districts completing existing CHPS projects through the two-year transition period
  • New projects leveraging combined expertise of both rating systems
  • Integrated approaches maximizing comprehensive green building benefits

The integration provides clarity for long-term planning while creating opportunities for enhanced technical support, with CHPS experts continuing to provide specialized guidance throughout the transition.

ID360: Your Partner for LEED for Schools Success

As schools navigate this transition, ID360 provides comprehensive LEED for Schools consulting services to help educational institutions maximize the benefits of sustainable building certification. Our experienced team of sustainable building professionals understands the unique requirements of educational facilities and can guide schools through:

  • LEED for Schools certification strategy development tailored to the school district’s goals and budget
  • Transition planning for schools currently pursuing or considering CHPS certification
  • Integrated design coordination to optimize building performance and certification outcomes
  • Policy development to support sustainable building requirements and funding strategies

Our expertise in LEED, CHPS, WELL, and CALGreen standards positions us to help schools achieve maximum environmental and educational benefits while navigating the evolving landscape of green building certifications.

The Path Forward

The integration of CHPS into USGBC’s Center for Green Schools creates a unified platform for advancing environmental performance and occupant wellbeing in educational facilities. This transition represents both an opportunity and responsibility to ensure every school project advances integrated sustainability goals while maintaining the specialized focus that has driven the green schools movement.

For building services professionals and school districts, this alignment creates the foundation for accelerated progress in educational facility excellence, combining proven expertise with expanded resources to make high-performance, healthy schools the standard rather than the exception.

Ready to maximize your school’s sustainability potential? ID360’s LEED for Schools consulting services can help your district navigate this transition and achieve comprehensive green building certification.

Contact ID360 today to discuss how we can support your school’s journey toward LEED for Schools certification and sustainable facility excellence. Learn More About Our LEED Consulting Services →

A critical analysis for local jurisdictions and building professionals.

California’s housing crisis has prompted unprecedented legislative action, and AB 130 (formerly AB 306) represents one of the most significant shifts in local building authority in decades. Signed into law on June 30, 2025, as part of the state budget package, this legislation fundamentally alters when and how local jurisdictions can modify building standards for residential projects. For sustainability professionals and local governments working on reach codes, understanding these new constraints— and the limited exceptions—is crucial for strategic planning.

The New Reality: A Building Standards Freeze for Residential Projects

From October 1, 2025, through June 1, 2031, AB 130 imposes a near-complete moratorium on local modifications to building standards affecting residential units, with certain exceptions. This includes the prohibition of new decarbonization ordinances and most reach codes that exceed state minimums. The legislation reflects the state’s prioritization of housing production over local environmental standards, marking a dramatic policy shift. For the building community, this means that the era of adopting high-performance local building standards for residential construction has ended except for those communities who previously incorporated these requirements into their general plan.

Consider Timing Strategy

For qualifying jurisdictions with approved general plans before June 10, 2025, the opportunity exists to develop comprehensive long-term reach code strategies that align with existing policy commitments. For non-qualifying jurisdictions, the priority must be immediate adoption before September 30, 2025, as this represents the final window before the building standards freeze takes effect.

The Critical Exception: The General Plan Pathway

However, AB 130 includes a narrow but important exception that creates opportunities for jurisdictions with foresight in their planning processes. Local building standard modifications are permitted if “the changes are necessary to implement a local code amendment to align with a general plan approved on or before June 10, 2025.” This exception creates a two-tier system of jurisdictions: those with qualifying general plans and those without.

Eligible jurisdictions must have an approved general plan dated on or before June 10, 2025, with specific policies that require building code modifications for implementation, and a demonstrable nexus between the general plan goals and proposed building standards. It is important that each local government perform their legal interpretation for applicability to their own jurisdiction.

Important Note: Non-Residential Buildings Remain Unaffected

While AB 130 significantly restricts modifications to residential building standards, non-residential buildings are not subject to these limitations. Local jurisdictions retain full authority to develop and implement reach codes for:

  • Commercial buildings
  • Office buildings
  • Industrial facilities
  • Institutional buildings
  • Mixed-use projects (for the non-residential portions)

This creates an important opportunity for jurisdictions to continue advancing sustainability goals through the commercial building sector while residential reach codes face restrictions. Communities can still pursue aggressive decarbonization strategies for their commercial building stock without the constraints imposed by AB 130.

Strategic Implications for Forward-Thinking Jurisdictions

Communities that adopted qualifying general plans before June 10, 2025, now hold a valuable asset. These jurisdictions can potentially develop reach codes if they can demonstrate that building standard modifications are necessary to implement existing general plan commitments.

Next Right Action for Qualifying Jurisdictions

Jurisdictions with qualifying general plans must conduct a comprehensive general plan assessment, reviewing all plans approved before June 10, 2025, to identify specific policies that could justify building standard modifications and document clear connections between adopted policies and proposed reach codes.

Next, develop a robust implementation framework by creating detailed strategies that tie building standards directly to general plan objectives, preparing documentation that demonstrates proposed modifications are “necessary” rather than merely preferable, and engaging legal counsel to ensure the nexus is legally defensible.

Finally, execute strategic implementation by beginning reach code development as a next step while building necessary documentation, establishing clear timelines for completing the adoption process, and preparing for potential state scrutiny of the “necessity” justification.

For assistance with general plan analysis, reach code development, or AB 130 compliance strategies, contact our team of sustainable building policy experts at info@integrateddesign360.com. We provide specialized support to help jurisdictions navigate these complex new requirements while advancing their sustainability goals.