LEED v5 is ready for ratification – what it means for CAGBC members
Green Building Team on March 12, 2025
- Rating System/Standard
- LEED
- LEED v5
The CAGBC is very excited to announce that LEED v5, the next evolution of the LEED rating systems, has reached a critical milestone: member ratification of the final drafts. This is the last step in LEED rating system development, which takes place after the consensus committees vote to finalize all language.
The LEED v5 rating system drafts are available on the USGBC LEED v5 page and below:
- LEED for Building Design and Construction (LEED BD+C)
- LEED for Interior Design and Construction (LEED ID+C)
- LEED for Operations and Maintenance (LEED O+M)
During the ratification period (Feb. 25 – March 28 at 5 p.m. ET), all USGBC organizational members and their employees are invited to vote on the adoption of each rating system. Once approved with more than 50 per cent of voting members supportive of adoption, LEED v5 will continue toward market launch. If your firm has USGBC membership, you are welcome to cast your vote (yes, no or abstain) for the adoption of the rating system language.
About LEED v5
LEED v5 is focused on how the built environment can move the needle on some of today’s most pressing topics: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration. Resiliency is also a new area addressed in LEED v5. LEED v5 offers new pathways for buildings to make meaningful impacts and communicate leadership to their stakeholders.
CAGBC members offered critical feedback to earlier drafts of LEED v5 throughout 2024. Our technical committees provided almost 300 comments during the first public comment period and over 200 comments during the second public comment period combined on all rating systems. CAGBC thanks the LEED v5 Accelerators, the LEED Advisory Committee and the two Technical Advisory Groups (Embodied Carbon and Energy & Engineering) for their intensive review of the LEED v5 drafts. We are also grateful to all USGBC committee, which includes Canadians in their numbers, for their many hours of work on developing these drafts.
Responses to second public comment feedback are posted on USGBC website. Answers to standard questions are also available in an FAQ: Frequently asked questions.
USGBC highlighted some notable changes from the second public comment drafts:
All rating systems
Credit and prerequisite numbering have been added to all LEED v5 rating systems.
BD+C and ID+C
The language for New Construction and Core and Shell projects has been combined into a single document to streamline language and align with what teams will see in the reference guides. Changes to rating system language mostly centered around streamlining requirements within the Materials and Resources credit category; this is a category where CAGBC members offered significant feedback.
Here are some examples of changes to the Materials and Resources credits, all of which address concerns CAGBC committee members raised last year.
Feedback offered
Updates made
| The requirements around “baseline values” in the Embodied Carbon prerequisite and credit were not clear. | Requirements around the “baseline” have been removed from the prerequisite and only appear in the credit where they are applicable. |
| The options as presented in the Reduce Embodied Carbon credit could distract teams from the impact-related intent of the credit. | To ensure the intent of the credit is met (reducing embodied carbon), the EPD options have been combined into a single option allowing project teams to select between two approaches. |
| Requirements around Low-Emitting Materials need additional clarity and simplification. | The language was simplified, and the threshold for category achievement was updated from achieving 5 categories to achieving 3 categories to earn 1 point. |
| Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credit Option 1 language is not clear and requires alignment with Option 2. | The name of this credit has been updated to Building Product Selection and Procurement and the option/approaches have been reduced to focus on product categories. |
O+M
With Operations + Maintenance, again the revised drafts respond to concerns our committee members raised, including these examples.
Feedback offered
Updates made
| Platinum requirement to achieve 2 points under EA credit: GHG Emissions Reduction Performance, Option 2 is limiting for projects in certain locations and renewable markets around the globe. | Platinum requirements for Energy use emissions reduction were updated to require earning a minimum of 2 points under Option 2. Renewable Energy AND/OR Option 3. Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Building Energy Use. This change allows projects with limited renewable energy options to demonstrate low GHG emissions under Option 3. |
| Additional clarity is needed around the scope, definitions and requirements for assessments and development of the sustainable operations policy. | Clarifications for prerequisites, credits, assessments and the development of policies will be built into the reference guide. |