Dispatches in Decarbonization: The Value of Personal Relationships in Accelerating a Net Zero Future
This article first appeared in Mahesh Ramanujam’s monthly LinkedIn newsletter, Dispatches in Decarbonization, on September 30, 2024. Subscribe on LinkedIn to receive these updates.
Throughout my career, I’ve ascribed to the ethos that as leaders in green building, we must “think globally and act locally” — particularly if we want to drive the transformation needed to decarbonize our planet, economy, and communities by the rapidly approaching Paris Agreement target deadlines.
While at USGBC, I traveled the world to expand LEED’s global presence from 35 to 182 countries and territories. During this time, I was able to build relationships with and gain firsthand perspectives from the people who were truly showing up and doing the hard work to reduce emissions. I heard from business, real estate, construction, and policy leaders who were able to use their own personal experiences and localized stakes to embrace effective strategies for decarbonization.
After leaving USGBC, my longtime colleague and partner Sarah Merricks and I founded the Global Network for Zero to build on this momentum. We were intent on moving the market to a complete acceleration of the net zero strategies that would enable businesses and buildings to hit their decarbonization targets ahead of schedule. And that’s precisely what we’ve done.
For the past two years we’ve further engaged with those we built personal relationships with in the past. Instead of releasing just yet another standard to the market, we remain committed to understanding the challenges they’ve faced so we can ensure our product offers a unique value proposition that eliminates the barriers existing buildings and portfolios face in decarbonizing. What we've learned is that the need to "think globally and act locally" is more urgent than ever.
We are building a strong pipeline to provide custom solutions, already working with clients in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South and Central America, India, the U.S., and beyond. The response to this approach has been overwhelming. Thus far, by speaking with the on-site teams implementing net zero plans, we’ve learned how to be nimble amid a vast spectrum of localized obstacles.
Over these last few months, we’ve continued to focus on this more personal approach to our vision for net zero. We recently announced a new slate of advisors who have a people-centric passion for decarbonization and are helping us expand the network — like Cesar Ulises Trevino Trevino and April Ambrose, LEED Fellow, GCP. Cesar, for instance, is the first person in Mexico to receive both a LEED AP and the LEED Fellow prestigious distinctions, and he says of green building, “I can tell you that the best experience from this journey is the people.” And April is a LEED Fellow who has connected a childhood spent on a commune with a career in creating a more equitable green workforce.
Given my own experiences growing up in impoverished Chennai, I am deeply invested in these perspectives. As a kid, sustainability was indistinguishable from survivability for me — and it is my upbringing that continues to play a large role in my decision to merge a background in technology with green building, is why I created GNFZ, and is why I will always seek others who share the imperative for a more personal and inclusive vision for the future.
In addition to involving advisors who are adept at making these personal pitches, highlighting the human stakes for a decarbonized world, and fostering mentorship and community building, we are dedicated to finding these values in our partners and clients as well.
This summer, we announced the completion of Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (SRK)’s certification. I previously worked with them on their LEED certifications in 2018, so it came as no surprise to me that with an initial goal of net zero certifying its two Surat-based diamond manufacturing facilities by 2030, SRK was able to reach this achievement with GNFZ in 2024. SRK’s steadfast commitment to decarbonization can be attributed to Founder and Chairman Govind Dholakia’s lifetime dedication to ethical manufacturing policies, his renewed public declaration that eliminating emissions is now the crown jewel of the company’s work, and to his own personal mission of ensuring India reaches net zero ahead of its 2070 national goal.
This month, we also announced the completion of two pioneering net zero certification projects!
The Alfa headquarters facility seamlessly blends outdoor and indoor environments.
Alfa Sustainable Projects Ltd. is Israel’s leading sustainable design and engineering firm and we have worked with them to achieve net zero certification of their headquarters facility, Alfa Campus. The campus project is the first in Israel and the MENA region to achieve GNFZ’s net zero certification for existing buildings. Alfa’s Founder and CEO, Chen Shalita, was one of the first people I shared my vision for GNFZ with — and that’s because, during a visit with him in late 2019, he brought me to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I felt a spiritual connection to the architecture, to the melting pot of the Old City, and to Chen’s shared beliefs in building a better world. I was also deeply moved by the fact that much of his early involvement in sustainability derived from a conversation with his son, who had confided in him in 2010 about his fears growing up with climate change.
In Mexico, we partnered with Grupo Chufani, the company behind Latin America’s most innovative construction solutions, and THREE Consultoría Medioambiental an environmental consultancy founded by Lourdes Salinas, to net zero certify Grupo Chufani’s Santiago De Querétaro Headquarters.
Lourdes Salinas is the Founder of Three, and recently joined GNFZ as an Advisor.
I first met Lourdes at Greenbuild Mexico, and not only did I get a glimpse into her life, home, and community, but she also arranged a roadshow of projects for me to visit — to gain a greater insight into the technical components and the spirit of the people in each place. I was particularly thrilled to visit Monterrey, after having worked closely with that region during my time at IBM.
What is so important about our partnership this time around is that Grupo Chufani Founder Sergio Chufani and Lourdes Salinas are committed to closing the gap on the net zero obstacles they are witnessing firsthand in Mexico and Latin America. In fact, Lourdes believes in personally setting the example of transformation they help to enact for others, saying that the Santiago de Querétaro project “is going to be a north star for anyone under the impression that achieving net zero is too time consuming, expensive, and confusing…What we’ve done here is illustrate that you truly just need the right partners to steward the way, ensure traditional barriers are eliminated, and meet incremental targets with better performance reporting.”
This is really what it’s all about — creating that connective tissue that is the foundational part of pursuing a decarbonized world. It’s about visiting and revisiting old friends, making new friends, creating new collaborations, and growing a network and community where we are all able to collectively turn our own experiences into transformational change for others.
GNFZ’s incremental framework eliminates traditional market barriers, allows businesses and buildings to achieve net zero certification, and enables them to pursue accelerated targets at an affordable and accessible pace. But more importantly, the personalized methodology we are creating also empowers people to turn regional and local obstacles into opportunities, and to take the net zero journey knowing they are working with a certification body committed to leaving no business, no building, and nobody behind.
These are lofty goals — but we have a strong track record of bringing goals to life and turning long term visions into near term realities. Reach out to us or message me for more information on who we are working with, how they are accelerating targets (and you can too!), what we are learning in markets across the globe, and how our best practices for tailor-made certification are becoming the driving force behind our ability to deliver transformational change at scale.