Credentialing maintenance program for LEED professionals launched

GBCI will require continuing education and participation in the green community in order to maintain LEED professional status.

By Source: GBCI, USGBC August 6, 2009

The Green Building Certification Institute ( GBCI ) launched a credentialing maintenance program (CMP) for U.S. Green Building Council ( USGBC ) LEED APs and Green Associates, ensuring that LEED professional credentials will remain relevant and meaningful in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

"Since 2001, the LEED AP credential has been recognized as a mark of significant achievement, acknowledging that a candidate passed a rigorous test that assessed their knowledge of green building fundamentals," said Peter Templeton, president of GBCI. "But knowledge doesn’t stand still, and credential maintenance underscores a professional’s commitment to staying at the leading edge of green building science and practice."

With the launch of LEED 3.0 in April 2009, GBCI put in place a number of changes and enhancements to the LEED professional credentialing program. As LEED standards change, professionals will have to keep up to date. Various activities qualify to earn LEED credential holders credit toward their credentialing maintenance. Those activities are listed in the GBCI CMP guide and include continuing education, practical application of LEED on projects, and active participation in the green building community. Later this year, GBCI will launch an online tool for registered CMP users to submit and track maintenance activities.

The announcement came about two weeks after the USGBC was accepted by GBCI as the first education reviewing body. With ERB status, the USGBC is authorized to review and approve continuing education offerings under CMP. USGBC maintains a catalog of approved professional courses developed by a broad network of education providers, which are third-party organizations that submit courses to USGBC for peer review.