Yesterday was Earth Day. What did you do to commemorate it? Today wraps up our Earth Day Series, which has looked at sustainability in construction and in the lifecycle of buildings. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this series is that all stakeholders in the construction industry need to work together to achieve the ambitious goals that are needed to reduce lifecycle emissions—from design, to construction, to operations, and everywhere in between. New programs could help too.
Consider the example of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) v5, which is the newest version of the council’s rating system that was released for public comment in early April and will remain open until May 20, 2024.
The next version aims to further decarbonization in construction and operations, create quality of life improvements, and drive ecological conservation and restoration. Let’s break down each of these three areas a little bit further.
Decarbonization: The most recent program will focus on reducing all sources of emissions. This includes operational, embodied, refrigerants, and transportation. Peggy Smedley has talked a lot about Scope 3 and the challenges we face in the supply chain. It appears there will be a greater focus on this in the days ahead.
Quality of life: The latest version of the rating system focuses on human-centric strategies, ultimately with the objective of improving health and wellbeing, resilience, and equity and inclusion for building occupants and their communities.
Ecological conservation and restoration: LEED v5 also aims to inspire action at the individual asset level to limit environmental degradation and contribute toward the restoration of ecosystems.
With a focus on these three key areas, let’s look next at some of the more specific changes to LEED v5, which are sure to have an impact on construction in the days to come.
For operations and maintenance, the new version puts existing buildings on a path to decarbonization and ties Platinum-level certification to near-zero carbon operating emissions.
For design and construction, LEED v5 provides a framework for new buildings to reach near-zero carbon emissions operationally by 2050, on a decarbonized grid, and, at the Platinum level, for buildings to achieve near-zero carbon operationally and embodied carbon reductions today.
Together, teams will have access to information to guide goal setting and project delivery. This includes assessment methodologies for climate resilience, carbon emissions through 2050, and social equity. Users will also receive a LEED Impact Report that will help them measure, manage, and communicate their project’s performance and allow them to make improvements.
As I mentioned in last week’s blog and earlier in this week’s blog, interconnectedness is key. We see that here in LEED v5—but it extends further than just LEED. We will likely continue to see this drive to greater alignment on many projects all around the globe. The ultimate impact will be projects that are finished faster and more environmentally friendly than years’ past. Do you agree?
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