The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released its international rankings of the Top 10 Countries for LEED. The list highlights countries outside of the U.S. that are making significant strides in sustainable building design, construction and transformation.
"International demand has grown steadily for tools supporting sustainable economic growth, and it has become increasingly clear that we are reaching a tipping point around environmental sustainability. It is now impossible to view social and economic development as separate issues from a robust sustainability agenda," commented Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC.
"The global success of LEED in these countries is a sign that international business leaders and policy makers recognize that a commitment to transforming the built environment is crucial to addressing major environmental challenges. The countries on this list are pushing this commitment forward."
The 10 countries that made the list for 2015 are geographically and culturally diverse, representing seven of the world's 20 largest single-nation economies by gross domestic product (GDP) (China, Germany, Brazil, India, Canada, South Korea and Turkey), as well as six of the top 11 emitters of greenhouse gases (China, India, Germany, South Korea, Canada and Brazil).
While Canada tops the list, Brazil and the Republic of Korea have moved up in the rankings and Turkey and Sweden are new to the Top 10 this year.
This is the second year that USGBC has provided rankings on the Top 10 Countries for LEED outside of the U.S.