Gaining momentum

By the end of the year the non-profit organisation had seen a record number of new members, and the DGNB Academy had made a successful transition to online training. The number of qualified sustainable building experts now exceeds 5000. In addition, the DGNB continued its success in the field of building certification, passing an important milestone on its path to internationalisation with the official launch of the DGNB System in Spain.

“2020 was particularly challenging for us at the DGNB. Our network thrives on personal exchange and interaction, and previously almost all events organised by the DGNB Academy were staged in the classroom,” states Dr Christine Lemaitre, CEO of the DGNB.

The DGNB succeeded in overhauling its business model in this area in 2020 by moving all training courses and staff education programmes into digital formats. “This wasn’t just about adapting our classroom-based courses and simply offering them like-for-like online, we also realigned teaching methods to the particular demands of digital learning,” states Christine.

“Looking back now, I have to say we managed a lot of things really well. We can also confirm that sustainability continued to gain in importance across the industry over the past year.”