The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently introduced a draft of its LEED v5 for Operations and Maintenance (O+M) rating system for existing buildings. It marks a milestone in the built environment’s alignment with a low-carbon future and addresses critical imperatives such as equity, health, ecosystems and resilience. While the launch of LEED v5 begins with existing buildings, LEED v5 for Building Design and Construction (BD+C) will roll out in 2024.
In conjunction with the release of the LEED v5 O+M draft, White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi announced a plan to create a new national definition of zero-emissions building. LEED v5 will align with this definition, including requirements for LEED Zero Carbon and Platinum-level projects that specify low to no operational GHG emissions.
The move will be referenced in federal programs and state and local policies. USGBC and other organizations in the green building space will align around this national definition.
LEED v5 will work to adopt minimum requirements on embodied carbon, moving closer to net zero buildings. USGBC has created the Embodied Carbon Harmonization and Optimization Project, a coalition of industry groups working to standardize reporting of embodied carbon emissions.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
