LEED version 5 is moving closer to reality. The second public comment period ended in October 2024, and feedback was very supportive. LEED v5 appears on track for a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) member ballot in the first quarter of 2025 and may be available for project registrations by Spring of this year. The previous version, LEED v4, was introduced more than 11 years ago so this is a welcome refresh of the world’s premier green building rating system. LEED v5 includes new versions of LEED BD+C: New Construction and Core and Shell, LEED ID+C: Commercial Interiors, and LEED O+M: Existing Buildings. LEED Residential and LEED for Cities and Communities will be updated on a different timeline. The USGBC has not announced a firm timeline, but project teams will most likely be able to continue registering projects under v4 through 2025 (with several years after that before it sunsets), however, LEED v5 offers some exciting advantages worth considering for early adopters.
In launching the development process for LEED v5, the USGBC identified three priority impact areas: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration. Let’s review some highlights from two of these impact areas so you know what to expect as you begin planning for your upcoming LEED projects.
Decarbonization
This impact area is focused on the primary areas of built environment emissions, including operational carbon, embodied carbon, and emissions from transportation. While reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) has long been implicit in the rating system, LEED v5 makes reducing emissions a clear priority. A new Integrative Process, Planning, and Assessments (IP) Carbon Assessment prerequisite was added to illuminate a long-term view of impacts with an estimate of the embodied, operational and transportation carbon impacts for the first 25 years of the project’s life.
Building on this, the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category includes a new Operational Carbon Projection and Decarbonization Plan prerequisite which will help building owners to plan for long-term reductions (supporting Building Performance Standards compliance, where applicable). A new EA Electrification credit rewards projects that limit or eliminate on-site combustion equipment. Decarbonization also applies to building materials. A new Materials and Resources (MR) Assess and Quantify Embodied Carbon prerequisite was added to raise awareness about the embodied carbon of primary building materials. This aligns with the expansion of buy clean regulations and new embodied carbon building code requirements like those in California. Finally, a new Location and Transportation (LT) credit rewards the development of a transportation demand management program to reduce emissions from occupant transportation, combined with parking reduction and active transportation support.
Combining energy performance and resilience considerations, a new EA Reduced Peak Thermal Loads credit will require reductions in heating and cooling loads with enhanced building enclosures (reduced air infiltration and thermal bridging) and with balanced ventilation and heat recovery in HVAC systems. These measures will reduce energy use and support thermal resilience during extended power outages that often coincide with heat waves and cold snaps.
Familiar credits were also updated to further reduce GHG emissions. The baseline for the energy performance prerequisite and credit was updated to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 – 2019. The Enhanced Refrigerant Management credit has also been expanded to include refrigerant leakage limits and requirements for retail food refrigeration equipment. Recognizing the importance of high-performance building enclosures to building energy use reduction, specific field-testing requirements have been added to the Enhanced Commissioning path for building enclosure commissioning.
Quality of life
This LEED impact area is focused on enhancing human health and
well-being, increasing resilience, and supporting equity. LEED v5 addresses this with two new assessments in the IP category, Climate Resilience Assessment and Human Impact Assessment. The resilience assessment will raise awareness about natural hazard and climate change risks, setting the stage for additional resilience considerations added in other credit categories. This assessment aligns with the new ASTM E3429-24, Standard Guide for Property Resilience Assessments that will become part of real estate transaction due diligence, and with new regulations for climate-related financial risk disclosure. This prerequisite will prompt project teams to assess how current natural hazards, like floods and hurricanes, and the emerging impacts of climate change, including sea level rise and extreme heat, may impact the proposed project, and to consider what mitigations are possible to reduce vulnerabilities over the life of the building.
Resilience
Building on this, a new Sustainable Sites (SS) Enhanced Resilient Site Design credit encourages integrating resilient site features to address at least two hazards identified in the assessment, such as extreme heat, flooding, high winds, and sea level rise. An Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) Resilient Spaces credit will reward projects that include resilience measures applicable to location-specific hazards (identified in the resilience assessment) to protect building occupants if these hazard events occur, including maintaining indoor air quality (IAQ) during hazardous outdoor air events (e.g. wildfire smoke), maintaining thermal safety during extended power outages, and managing indoor air at times of heightened risk from respiratory disease (referencing ASHRAE 241-2023).
Equity
Just like resilience, equity is a new theme in LEED v5. The new IP Human Impact Assessment prerequisite will help teams understand potential social inequities related to the local community, workforce, and supply chain associated with the project. An LT Equitable Development credit promotes a range of potential equitable development decisions, including brownfield remediation, construction workforce development and local employment, affordable housing, and creating community amenities. In the SS category, a new Accessible Outdoor Space credit outlines requirements for an accessible and inviting outdoor space that invites connections with community and nature, and a tree cover requirement was added to the Heat Island Reduction credit, which addresses both resilience and equity.
An Accessibility and Inclusion credit was added to the EQ category, setting minimum accessibility requirements for project locations without locally applicable accessibility codes. A new Occupant Experience credit includes some familiar requirements for daylight and views, lighting control and quality, thermal comfort, and sound environments, but also includes an Adaptable Environment option that focuses on the diversity of physical and sensory needs of occupants, and a Biophilic Environment option that encourages the adoption of indoor biophilic design principles.
In addition to the decarbonization and quality of life impact areas, LEED v5 includes other important updates including adding bird collision reduction requirements into the SS Biodiverse Habitat credit, an update to the old MR prerequisite for storage and collection of recyclables, now called Planning for Zero Waste Operations and requiring a plan to help future occupants reduce waste. LEED Core and Shell includes a new credit encouraging green leases.
LEED v5 will include some familiar requirement, while raising the bar on some, but also introduce some significant new elements, including a greater focus on decarbonizations, and requirements for climate and natural hazard resilience, and equity. This brings LEED into alignment with the evolving and expanding priorities for sustainable built environments, as well as new standards and regulations. Look for the USGBC member ballot and official launch soon. Are you ready for v5?
Alan Scott, FAIA, LEED Fellow, LEED AP BD+C, O+M, WELL AP, CEM, is an architect and consultant with more than 35 years of experience in sustainable building design. He is director of sustainability with Intertek Building Science Solutions. To learn more, follow Alan on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/alanscottfaia/.