South Africa are to invest in a Green Rating system similar to those employed in Australia, the UK and the USA. The initiative, which is being realised by the Green Building Council of South Africa, (GBCSA) will encourage architects and industry professionals to become members in order to achieve levels of green status which have been used to strong effect in the three existing systems. The American LEED system uses Silver, Gold and Platinum awards to differentiate between buildings of differing ecological standards. The GBCSA has been working closely with Australia in developing a functioning system. The system will be used to ‘identify different categories in which a building’s environmental performance can be improved; identify specific initiatives (“credits”) that would improve performance; award points for incorporating the initiatives” and award a rating based on that score.