Diagram 3: Market Transformation of Sustainability Practices

The program strategy section introduces concepts like targeted outreach and key leverage point to help design these policy instruments.

• Education and engagement: Build knowledge, skills, interest and awareness for targeted stakeholders and public constituencies. Establish partnerships and networks to help with planning, implementation and knowledge transfer. Publicly recognize leadership.

• Pilot projects: Early projects are incubators for strengthening policy, skills, knowledge and awareness in government, the private sector and the community at large. These projects can be in the public or private sectors and should be monitored to maximize learning. Ideally, they catalyze a series of changes.

• Financial incentives: To reduce risk and overcome market barriers associated with new practices, design incentives for early adopters. Incentives aren’t always money. Local governments can also agree to fast-track projects that meet green criteria, or they can defer fees and allow them to be paid based on energy savings.

• Voluntary measures: To spread the innovation beyond a few early projects, consider using voluntary measures. As shown by the success of LEED and several other green-building programs, these programs should clearly identify preferable practices and then recognize the people who adopt them.

• Voluntary measures: LEED for buildings and now LEED for neighborhoods are voluntary programs.  Such programs, reinforced by the policy levers above extend innovative practices further into the marketplace.

• Regulatory changes: When the new practices are sufficiently well established, consolidate the change by adjusting regulations and standards to lock them in as the norm. This often involves removing policies that constrain green development and creating new ones to support it. Performance standards versus conventional regulations are helpful in many situations to provide developers with flexibility to support greater learning and lead to more innovation.

The Playbook contains well-developed policy levers that can be adapted to your community for advancing sustainable  buildings, neighborhoods and infrastructure.