LEED v5: What does the updated sustainability standard mean for design?
September 09, 2025
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What does LEED v5’s new emphasis on decarbonization, resilience, quality of life, and ecological conservation mean for design?
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A version of this blog first appeared as “Three big questions about LEED v5” in Design Quarterly, Issue 25.
The other day, someone asked us if we’ve ever added up the energy savings from all the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects we’ve worked on since 2005. The quick answer: No.
Honestly, that might take us a while. (As of January 2025, our Carbon Impact Team has compiled 1,097 LEED certified projects globally on which Stantec led sustainability efforts and/or collaborated with a partner to achieve certifications through design.) While we don’t have the energy savings, we do know that those projects would not have achieved what they did without LEED as a framework. LEED helped our team set goals, stay on track, and keep sustainability measures from falling through the cracks. It also challenged us to stay ahead of the curve and strive to do more to address the most urgent needs in the building industry. As those needs have evolved, so has LEED. Naturally, we’re curious about what the new LEED v5 means for design.
This year, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched LEED v5, the long-awaited update to the USGBC’s highly influential sustainability standard. LEED v5 makes exciting changes that we’re enthusiastic about. But it also has us wondering a few things.
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The Weyerhaeuser Headquarters in Seattle, Washington, is a LEED Platinum-certified building. It features wood from the company’s own timber mills as well as hand-picked salvaged materials. The project diverted more than 75 percent of its construction waste from landfills. (Architect: Mithun)
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Why LEED succeeded and why it needed to change
LEED was introduced in 1998 and it provided a standard that is recognized internationally. It was user friendly, offering flexibility in credits so designers could tailor their approach to specific project needs. LEED raised awareness of the role of the built environment in global emissions. It has greatly influenced the evolution and adoption of green building codes by elevating the baseline standards for sustainable construction.
LEED was also effective. It changed the conversation and made buildings more efficient and affordable. Cushman and Wakefield’s data says LEED projects reduce waste, water, and energy consumption by 20 percent. It also notes that “LEED buildings achieve a 21.4 percent higher average market sales price per square foot over non-LEED buildings” and attract more favorable financing. But the conversation about the built environment and climate change has evolved.
Enter LEED v5
LEED heightened our consciousness around the built environment and its contribution to carbon emissions and climate change. The industry’s original focus on sustainability has long since shifted to mitigating climate change. With LEED v5, the USGBC responds to pressure to address global warming. It has created LEED v5 to align with the climate goals adopted in the AIA 2030 and Paris Agreement.
What’s new in LEED v5?
A lot. Here are some of the most significant changes we see in each of the focus areas and elsewhere.
Decarbonization
- Decarbonization accounts for half of the available points now.
- LEED v5 Platinum requires the following: net zero operational emissions, full electrification, renewable energy, and reduced embodied carbon emissions.
- LEED v5 requires these: an operational carbon projection, a decarbonization plan, and an embodied carbon assessment.
Quality of life
- V5 requires projects to complete a human impact assessment as a prerequisite.
Ecological conservation and restoration
- V5 awards credits for features that protect natural habitats and resources.
Resilience
- While resilience has been a focus in previous versions, it now has its own prerequisite and credit.
- Every LEED v5 project must complete a climate resilience assessment.
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The University of Lethbridge – Isttaniokaksini/Science Commons in Lethbridge, Alberta, is a LEED Gold-certified building. The Science Commons has been operating at an energy cost reduction of 78 percent for the offices and meeting spaces and at an energy reduction of 60 percent for the lab and lab support spaces. (Joint Venture / Association / Collaboration: KPMB/Stantec)
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With what we’ve seen in LEED v5, we’re enthusiastic, but we have questions. Let’s start with three:
- Will LEED v5 catch on, or does it go too far?
- Will LEED v5 require more experts and take more time?
- Where is regenerative design in v5?
Question 1: Will LEED v5 catch on, or does it go too far?
Most of the chatter about LEED v5 is about decarbonization, which is one of LEED’s three new focus areas. Decarbonization accounts for half of the available points in v5. V5 requires an operational carbon projection, decarbonization plan, and an embodied carbon assessment. LEED Platinum certification requires projects to be fully electric. They also must feature renewable energy and reduce embodied carbon emissions. LEED wants to push the envelope, but is the push for full electrification too much too soon?
Looking back at LEED v4, contractors and owners were at first resistant due to the extra effort and documentation requirements. Eventually, LEED v4 became standard. When LEED v4.1 was released, it didn’t have the decarbonization emphasis the industry felt was needed, and it was never officially balloted. Designers stuck with v4 and chose credits from v4.1 when they were advantageous.
Our take
As the new LEED v5 phases in, building owners and design teams will need to adapt to the new requirements of LEED v5. We believe that time will be worth the investment.
Certification still comes at a cost. The cost of LEED v5 certification includes registration and review fees, which are based on the square footage of the project. There are also fees for administration, consulting, and commissioning.
We consider certification and registration strategy the best practice on projects. And studies show that return on investment for LEED can be seen in higher rental premiums and lower operational costs. Some studies show that hidden benefits of LEED can also include lower insurance premiums. LEED v5 introduces new prerequisite studies that intend to push teams to analyze carbon, human impact, and climate resilience early in the design phase. These studies will add upfront fees. Owners and designers will need to recalculate the ROI for their LEED v5 projects.
LEED v5 is a big jump. And we’ve seen LEED overreach before. Some of the LEED v4 materials transparency requirements had to be reduced in v4.1. Only now are they becoming achievable as the market has caught up. We wonder if a stage in between would have been helpful on the path to healthy materials with v4 and now decarbonization with v5.
" }It’s important for design professionals like us to remember that LEED will continue to evolve. We can’t rest on our laurels and get comfortable with version 4 or 5.
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Question 2: Will LEED v5 require more experts and take more time?
LEED v5 pushes decarbonization and will require a life cycle assessment practitioner. But there’s much more to LEED v5. There are two more focus areas: quality of life and ecological conservation and restoration. And then there’s resilience, a theme which runs through much of LEED v5. Resilience is now a prerequisite for every project. USGBC defines resilience as the “ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events.”
LEED v5 encourages us to assess the impact of projects from various perspectives. They include: climate risk and ecosystem health, the local economy, and safety. In the new iteration, LEED-certified projects will need to account for their impact on biodiversity and local businesses.
Every v5 project must complete a climate resilience assessment. It requires design teams to analyze climate hazards, evaluate risk, and identify high-priority hazards. Economic resilience is also a factor. An equitable development credit encourages teams to
- Develop contaminated or historic sites
- Employ local labor
- Provide job training
- Include affordable housing
Our take
We will need more specialists for the climate resilience assessment and embodied carbon prerequisite. And we will need more budget to complete the resilience assessment. For project teams pursuing a more rigorous optional embodied carbon credit, additional specialists or fees should not be required.
LEED v5 also requires a new zero-waste plan, which will require a bit more thought but should not require reinventing the wheel for every project. LEED v5 also scales back the acoustics credit and tucks it into a new occupant experience credit.
V5 requires more experts to provide data to support the sustainable design process. But the embodied carbon, climate resilience assessment, and zero waste plans are small studies. Some credits have been consolidated or integrated into others. Whether these changes will require more time overall remains to be seen.
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The Green at West Village at the University of California Davis is one of the largest net zero energy communities in North America. It’s LEED Silver certified.
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Question 3: Where is regenerative design in v5?
USGBC’s third goal is ecological conservation and restoration. The USGBC says it’s about “emphasizing strategies that limit environmental degradation and contribute to the restoration of ecosystems, ensuring that our built environment exists harmoniously with nature.” This isn’t focused on emissions reductions. The category awards credits for features that protect natural habitats and resources.
Regenerative design is an emerging approach to design and planning projects. Here, we focus on the role of the built environment in creating and enhancing ecosystems to restore and revitalize nature and the environment.
Our take
The ecological conservation and restoration credits emphasize a built environment that harmonizes with nature. But the USGBC could take the restorative aspect of this focus area further. Merely protecting existing habitats is low stakes.
We’d like to see regenerative design in a future version of LEED. It is at the cutting edge in what was once sustainable design. We are finding it a worthy approach on projects around the globe—using the stormwater runoff from a new building to invigorate a biodiverse green area in an arid region, for example, or requiring that projects deliver a 10 percent net gain in biodiversity like the UK’s Biodiversity Net Gain program.
LEED is evolving
It’s important for design professionals like us to remember that LEED will continue to evolve. We can’t rest on our laurels and get comfortable with version 4 or 5. The USGBC says that LEED v5 was developed to serve as the standard through 2030.
Now that v5 has been activated, we’re already thinking about what will come in v6. Our wish list is centered on negative emissions technology. These technologies—such as carbon capture storage, direct air capture, and bioenergy—remove carbon from the atmosphere.
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