{"id":4508,"date":"2026-04-02T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/?p=4508"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:00:29","slug":"maryland-department-of-the-environment-recognized-by-u-s-green-building-council-for-climate-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/2026\/04\/02\/maryland-department-of-the-environment-recognized-by-u-s-green-building-council-for-climate-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Department of the Environment Recognized by U.S. Green Building Council for Climate Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Building Decarbonization Division honored for organizational excellence <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>BALTIMORE (April 2, 2026) \u2013 The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) today announced that its Building Decarbonization Division, part of the Air &amp; Radiation Administration\u2019s Climate Change Program, has received the 2026 U.S. Green Building Council Local Leadership Award for Organizational Excellence in the Maryland market.<br \/><br \/>The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) selected the MDE division for its work supporting USGBC\u2019s mission to advance sustainable, resilient, and healthy buildings and communities in Maryland.<br \/><br \/>\u201cThis award reflects Maryland\u2019s strong, sustained commitment to addressing climate change through coordinated leadership and action,\u201d said MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain. \u201cWe are proud to receive this recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council as we remain focused on advancing solutions that protect public health, strengthen resilience, and ensure a sustainable future for all Marylanders.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Buildings directly emit 15 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland and consume 93 percent of the state\u2019s electricity. The building decarbonization division\u2019s job is to <a href=\"https:\/\/mde.maryland.gov\/programs\/air\/ClimateChange\/Clean-Buildings\/Pages\/Clean-Buildings.aspx\">create regulations<\/a> that \u200badvance next-generation buildings while moving towards healthier air. From clean heat to efficient cooling, these policies improve the everyday lives of Marylanders.<br \/><br \/>Decarbonizing buildings also means savings on monthly utility bills by installing insulation and high-efficiency technologies like modern heat pumps. Households and businesses can also move away from volatile fossil fuel prices for a predictable financial future. Beyond the savings, these upgrades create a healthier indoor environment by eliminating the nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide associated with older gas systems, which has been shown to significantly reduce respiratory issues like asthma. <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgbc.org\/\">USGBC<\/a> is a non-profit organization known for developing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgbc.org\/leed\">Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)<\/a> green building certification system. For more information, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgbc.org\/articles\/usgbc-announces-2026-us-local-leadership-award-recipients\">USGBC news page<\/a>.<br \/><br \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><br \/><br \/>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Building Decarbonization Division honored for organizational excellence BALTIMORE (April 2, 2026) \u2013 The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) today announced that its Building Decarbonization Division, part of the Air &amp; Radiation Administration\u2019s Climate Change Program, has received the 2026 U.S. Green Building Council Local Leadership Award for Organizational Excellence in the Maryland market. The<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/2026\/04\/02\/maryland-department-of-the-environment-recognized-by-u-s-green-building-council-for-climate-leadership\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,1],"tags":[30,132],"class_list":["post-4508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change-2","category-press-release","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change","tag-secretary-serena-mcilwain"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4511,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508\/revisions\/4511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}