About Arc – U.S. Green Building Council

What is Arc?
Why did GBCI create Arc?
When did Arc ownership transition to GBCI?
What can I do in Arc?
What data do I need to generate a score in Arc?
How does each category contribute to my overall 0 – 100 score in Arc?
Which certification and reporting programs are supplemented by the score in Arc?
Is there such a thing as "Arc Certified?"
How much does Arc cost?
Is there a difference between LEED v 4.1 O+M certification and LEED v 4.1 O+M Recertification?
How can a building or space use Arc before applying to a LEED rating system?
What’s the process if I want to try Arc on a place not yet certified to LEED, but later decide I want to pursue LEED certification?
How can I promote my building or space through Arc?

What is Arc ?

Arc is a software platform that collects, manages, and analyzes data and communicates it as a score. You can utilize the score to benchmark and report performance on a global scale. Your score also supports certification programs offered by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating systems. Through the use of Arc, you’ll be able to tell how your city, community, building or space can take climate action.

Why did GBCI create Arc?

Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) created Arc to accelerate the transformation of all places to higher levels of environmental performance through data driven decisions.

When did Arc ownership transition to GBCI?

In December 2023, GBCI announced that ownership of Arc Skoru is transitioning to GBCI in an upstream merger to streamline operations and support the rapid growth of the Arc platform. Arc Skoru was created by GBCI in 2016 to benchmark performance, measure improvement, and provide new and more transparent ways to share performance information with owners, operators and occupants. This transition leverages GBCI’s global reach and resources to build upon Arc’s success and accelerate further adoption and innovation. Additionally, the programs offered through GBCI will now have better access to the solutions and partnership capabilities available in the Arc platform. The Arc platform will continue to support all current users and partners without interruption. All the features and functionality will continue to be available. Login and password information will remain unchanged. Learn more.

What can I do in Arc?

Arc provides an array of tools that help you score your project. You enter available data and benchmark performance locally or globally.

Arc is a software platform and offers educational tools to engage in improving the environmental impacts of your project. With the platform, you can input data and visualize a score. This score engages people to take action and influences behavior.

Arc tracks data in five categories: Energy, Water, Waste, Transportation and Human Experience in order to generate a score. The overall score is on a scale of 0 – 100 with higher scores indicating better performance.

With Arc, you can seek a performance category certificate in any of the five categories, you can submit for certification across various LEED rating systems, or you can use it for your annual GRESB submission. All of your projects can be managed in one “Portfolio” within Arc making it easy to monitor and analyze them, whether independently or as a group. Learn more.

What data do I need to generate a score in Arc?

You need data across five categories – Energy, Water, Waste, Transportation and Human Experience - to generate an overall score of 0 - 100. By entering data in one category, you can receive a score for just that one category. Your data generates the current score as of today, the score last month, the score last year, as well as the local and global average.

To generate a score in Arc for buildings or spaces, you must enter data for each category. Learn about specific data requirements.

For step-by-step guidance to entering your data and visualizing a score, see these educational courses in English or Spanish. Find out more about using Arc for Cities or Communities.

How does each category contribute to my overall 0 – 100 score in Arc?

Each category must be completed to generate an overall score. The total eligible points for each category is shown below:

Energy: 33
Water: 15
Waste: 8
Transportation: 14
Human Experience: 20
Foundational practices: 10

Which certification and reporting programs are supplemented by the score in Arc?

The score in Arc streamlines the process of achieving recognition for all places; your city, community, building or space. You can select one of more options applicable to your place from the summarized list below.

Is there such a thing as "Arc Certified?"

There is no offering known as “Arc certification”. Arc is a software platform which translates your data into a score. This score can be applied to Arc’s performance certificates, applicable LEED rating systems or simply for benchmarking your project.

How much does Arc cost?

Any project anywhere can get started in Arc at no cost. Learn more.

You can use Arc to submit for certification under one of the LEED rating systems. See the LEED Fee Table for additional information around registration and certification fees.

Is there a difference between LEED v 4.1 O+M certification and LEED v 4.1 O+M Recertification?

Yes, there is. USGBC offers two LEED rating systems applicable in different situations and includes different requirements.

Both are applicable to operational buildings and require you to generate a score in Arc.

For buildings and spaces that have not previously certified to any LEED rating system, you would use LEED v 4.1 O+M: Existing Buildings.
For buildings and spaces previously certified to any LEED rating system, you would use LEED Recertification.

How can a building or space use Arc before applying to a LEED rating system?

Arc offers two options if your building or space is not yet ready for LEED certification:

You can enter your data, generate a score and compare your performance against local and global benchmarks. This allows you to manage and communicate the performance of your project, and use it to drive future improvements. You can create a new project through these three simple steps:

Step 1: Navigate to arc.gbci.org and login with your User Account or create a new account
Step 2: Select Projects in the upper right corner, then the “+ Add a Project” button. Enter the Project Details, and then submit
Step 3: Select "Data" and begin entering data. We suggest starting with Building Settings

You can enter your data and seek performance certificates for your project. This allows you to celebrate the performance of your project in one or more categories and achieve a Performance Certificate. This will identify your Performance score and Improvement score for that category. You can create new Performance Certificates through these three simple steps:

Step 1: Navigate to arc.gbci.org and login with your User Account
Step 2: Select a Project, then “Leadership” on the left navigation. You will see current scores for each performance category. Select “Arc Performance Certificates”
Step 3: Click “Add a Certificate”, review the validity checks, and view the Performance Certificate. Performance Certificates are saved, and they can be viewed or downloaded anytime.

Updated 10/5/2022

What’s the process if I want to try Arc on a place not yet certified to LEED, but later decide I want to pursue LEED certification?

Any building or space anywhere can use Arc at no cost to generate a score. Follow these three simple steps to enter data and visualize your score:

Step 1: Navigate to arc.gbci.org and login with your User Account or create a new account
Step 2: Select Projects in the upper right corner, then the “+ Add a Project” button. Enter the Project Details, and then submit.
Step 3: Select "Data" and begin entering data. We suggest starting with Building Settings.

If you decide later you’d like to apply for LEED certification, Arc provides a link that sends all of your data to LEED Online, the web-based platform used for LEED registration and certification. Both the Overview tab and Leadership tab in Arc will send you to LEED Online.