The Global Network for Zero Co-founder Scot Horst has spent decades envisioning and championing the alignment of standards with proven environmental, economic and social benefits. As the Chairman of the Global Network for Zero, Scot guides the network to reenvision, rebuild and recalibrate the existing tools and strategies in the market to promote a completely new way of thinking about what shelter means to all humankind and human health, as well as all of nature and ecosystem health, in the 21st century.

Before co-founding the Global Network for Zero with Mahesh Ramanujam and Sarah Merricks, Scot oversaw the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification system, helping to grow the program to over 100,000 projects globally. A creator at heart, Scot held the distinguished title of founder and founding CEO of Arc Skoru and the Arc platform, which tracks and scores the actual performance of existing buildings, cities and places. The Arc platform was the first green building performance standard and became the foundation of the latest version of the LEED for Existing Buildings, LEED for Transit, LEED Zero and LEED for Cities rating systems. 

Prior to his work at USGBC, Scot held numerous executive positions. He served as the President of Athena Institute International, a nonprofit dedicated to the life-cycle assessment of buildings, and of 7group, a leading green building consultancy. He also designed and operated “Cool Climate Concrete,” a program for cement and concrete companies to reduce Portland cement clinker in thousands of projects and provide carbon to the Climate Trust of Oregon.  

Scot co-authored An Integrative Design Guide to Green Building. He serves on the board of the Cradle 2 Cradle Products Innovation Institute and the Advisory Board of Commonweal Ventures. He has served for the Sustainable Building Alliance in Paris, the Energy and Retrofit Finance Committee of the World Economic Forum and numerous organizations that focus on transformation. 

Scot holds dual degrees in Philosophy and Voice Performance from Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He sang opera professionally, and maintains a furniture design studio.