U.S. Green Building Council launches real-time international market briefs

Briefs expand USGBC offerings aimed at green building market transparency on a global scale

By Cecilia Shutters

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the launch of an expanded online data visualization resource that will allow any user to access aggregated LEED green building project information in the more than 150 countries with LEED projects underway.

Following on the successful U.S. state market briefs launched by USGBC in April, the international market briefs detail LEED projects by owner sector, rating system and space type for all countries with building projects participating in the LEED green building rating system, along with in-market LEED credentialed professionals and USGBC members.

"LEED is driving innovation and sustainable development across the globe,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, chief operating officer, USGBC. "These market briefs offer a global view, country by country, simultaneously representing the international demand for LEED and our commitment to making the story and the data behind it transparent."

The global up take of LEED has surged in the past few years. The gross commercial square footage certified by the Green Building Certification Institute outside the U.S. rose from 156 million to 176 million square feet in a single year (2012-2013). Currently, more than 648 million square feet of commercial space is LEED certified outside the U.S.

The country market briefs dovetail with the recent series of country-specific LEED in Motion reports (Greater China, Sweden, Canada) and the LEED Earth promotion, which offers complimentary LEED certification to the first project in a country to achieve LEED certification. Since the program began in 2013, LEED projects in 15 nations, including Venezuela and Kuwait, have earned free certification.

“Visualizing the global LEED marketplace allows us not only to see the present, but gives us a window through which we can imagine a more sustainable future for our planet,” added Ramanujam.

The international market briefs can be downloaded either as a visualization or as a raw data file and are accessible at www.usgbc.org/advocacy/country-market-brief.