Part 2 – Development of Regulation to Promote Green Buildings

This part of the guide explains the steps to initiate and complete the process of developing and implementing a local regulation or bylaw to encourage sustainable construction.

The objectives of this municipal regulation are:

Mitigating the impact of construction activity, encouraging the construction of certified sustainable buildings;

Generating a clear mechanism to validate sustainability standards of buildings that could receive incentives for being green, applying effective measures for their verification; and,

Providing clear rules for builders and developers to access the incentives granted by such regulations.

Based on the technical assistance provided by IFC to more than twenty municipalities in the Latin American region, the following steps have been identified to design, approve, implement and monitor municipal green building regulations:

  1. Preparatory stage
  2. Creation of the regulation
  3. Approval of the regulation
  4. Monitoring and evaluation of the regulation

15 Regulations issued by local governments or municipalities vary in name according to the country. In Peru they are called ordinances, in Colombia and Mexico agreements, and in Brazil, municipal law.