Dispatches in Decarbonization: Why We Started, What We Built, and Where We Go From Here
This article first appeared in Mahesh Ramanujam’s monthly LinkedIn newsletter, Dispatches in Decarbonization, on December 16, 2025. Subscribe on LinkedIn to receive these updates.
As we get ready to close out another year of the acceleration of our net zero journey, I find myself returning to the question I’m most often asked: Why did you start the Global Network for Zero?
The answer is both simple and deeply personal: We started GNFZ because the world needed something that didn’t yet exist.
Why We Started GNFZ
For decades, sustainability was framed through commitments, aspirations, and high-level ambitions. While those conversations were necessary, they did not always lead to measurable action. Too many organizations wanted to act but didn’t know how. Too many climate strategies stopped at promises without actual pathways. Too many communities were eager to decarbonize but lacked the technical support resources and guidance. They lacked high-quality data and access to a network that could help them make meaningful progress.
Nowhere was this gap more pronounced than in the built environment — where buildings, homes, and infrastructure generate a significant share of global emissions. The distance between intent and impact was stalling progress at the exact moment action was needed most.
My own experience as President and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) helped illuminate this reality. Rating systems like LEED sparked a global movement, expanded awareness, and mobilized leaders around a shared vision for a greener future. When I joined USGBC, our work had reached 35 countries and territories; when I left, we had expanded to 182. We celebrated more than 110,000 registered and certified projects. Yet only about 8,000 of those were existing buildings — a glaring signal that expansive portions of the market still lacked the tools or pathways to participate.
My GNFZ co-founders and I realized the existing building market needed something more inclusive. Existing building owners needed a net zero certification system that could address buildings at the very top, the middle, and the bottom of the market. They needed a platform with strategies focused specifically on decarbonization that would lead to financial return on investment, and they needed a platform that could get them started immediately. They also needed trusted leaders who could walk them through the process with confidence.
What was needed was a new kind of platform: Practical and measurable, while also being mission-driven. A system grounded in global standards but also in the form of a global network that encouraged collaboration over competition. A framework that empowered people to act not “someday” but now.
And that is why we created the Global Network for Zero.
GNFZ is built on a simple premise: Decarbonization must be clear, achievable, and within reach for every organization and every community. I’m often also asked, “What is the value proposition for GNFZ’s certification programs?” The answer is that decarbonization is simply a math problem. The legacy green building programs that exist today do not tell you how much emissions you have or how close you are to zero. They are more abstract. We make it so that each and every strategy that someone is implementing with GNFZ can be mapped directly to a meaningful emissions reduction.
To make this actionable, we designed an agile platform based on the GHG Protocol that blends rigorous technical support, transparent measurement tools, and a dynamic community of experts, innovators, and leaders who share one purpose — accelerating the transition to a net zero future.
But we didn’t stop at just the technology — because we also need a movement.
Why We Are Building a Network of Leaders
From the beginning, GNFZ was never meant to be just a certification or a standard. It was built to be a movement. We were striving to create an on-the-ground global network strong enough to shift markets, elevate trusted solutions, and mobilize meaningful action at scale.
Movements, after all, are built by people. People like you, me, and tens of thousands of others all around the world who are demanding urgent action now.
A network is more than membership. It is a living and dynamic ecosystem of individuals who bring experience, curiosity, and accountability to one another. It is a place where leaders share solutions rather than slogans, where challenges are addressed collaboratively, and where the strength of many replaces the understandable limitations of one.
We are building a network because no organization — no matter how visionary — can reach net zero alone. The climate crisis crosses borders, sectors, economies and communities. The only path forward is one that is built collaboratively. With the urgent climate deadlines ahead of us, there is more than enough work to do
The leaders joining GNFZ understand this. They come from real estate, manufacturing, technology, finance, energy, public policy, and more. They are CEOs and engineers, innovators and practitioners, researchers, and developers. They share a common belief that net zero solutions must be practical, scalable, and equitable — and that collaboration is the fastest way to unlock them. In a moment when the world needs clarity more than ever, we are building a space where progress is real, visible, and shared.
The Power of a Network: Why It Matters Now
Networks and communities amplify impact. They shorten the distance between ideas and results.
When organizations and individuals join GNFZ, they gain:
Shared Knowledge: No single organization has all the answers. Collectively, however, we have more than enough. Peer learning accelerates problem-solving and elevates what works.
Shared Accountability: We view accountability differently. For our network, accountability is not pressure, sole ownership, or punishment. It is a partnership based on shared trust. We believe that when leaders are surrounded by peers committed to excellence, progress becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Shared Action: Decarbonization is not linear. It requires coordinated action across technical, operational, social, and economic systems.
Shared Momentum: When one organization in our network succeeds, others are quick to follow. After all: What gets measured gets done, what gets done gets improved, what gets improved gets replicated, and what gets replicated transforms the market.
This is why networks are not just beneficial; they are foundational to success.
Looking Back on a Successful Year
The past year has been defined by momentum for GNFZ. We:
Expanded our certification offerings from existing buildings to new construction and business enterprises. We now offer net zero certification for buildings at the design, construction, and operations phases across four categories – net zero emissions, net zero energy, net zero water, and net zero waste. Our certification systems also address embodied carbon. All our buildings and portfolio-focused net-zero certification systems are recognized by GRESB.
Added new GNFZ Advisors who are leveraging their individual and collective expertise to bring in projects, strengthen our certification process, and demonstrate thought leadership.
Built and expanded our global network of partnerships, which widen our reach and give our customers region-specific expertise and support in delivering GNFZ certification.
Convened practitioners across continents who help to identify challenges and more importantly — solutions to removing the barriers to net zero.
Documented our net-zero milestones and certifications with project case studies demonstrating the art of possibility and progress.
And we engaged in direct peer-to-peer dialogue with organizations around the world, listening, learning, and understanding what they truly need to advance their decarbonization efforts. The common theme that emerged was clear: Leaders want clarity, credibility, and community, and they want a support system they can trust and that will deliver results. This is exactly what GNFZ was built to deliver.
A Call to Action
If you believe in a future where net zero buildings, businesses, and communities are the expectation rather than the exception, we invite you to join us to make our network even stronger. We welcome your expertise, your ambition, your voice and your questions. Our network is powered by participation, not perfection. It takes all of us.
What matters is the willingness to take the first step. We welcome your insights. Tell us what excites you the most about the path to net-zero in 2026… or what you think the biggest opportunities and challenges that must be addressed for us to move at a speed and scale to meet the climate deadlines ahead.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Thank you for your commitment to progress. And thank you for believing in a future that is net zero, resilient, equitable — and within reach.
Here’s to another year of meaningful action, even better collaboration, and true transformation.