Why We’re Excited About LEED v5 and Why You Should Be, Too!

The release of LEED v5 earlier this year marks a pivotal upgrade to our trusty green building rating system. This upgrade will bring better conversations with project teams and owners, improvements to pain points we’ve felt over the years, and a refined focus on net zero carbon, resilience, and equity which will yield more impactful sustainable design. At Brightworks, we’re excited about it, and here’s why you should be too! 

Connecting to Corporate Commitments

With each LEED building project, our goal is not to chase points but to tie LEED credits to each owner’s sustainability and ESG commitments so we can focus on impact and value. 

One of the most significant advances in LEED v5 is how the new prerequisites create a robust framework for project teams and owners to connect individual projects to corporate net zero commitments. For owners already tackling Scope 3 emissions with whole building life cycle assessments and embodied carbon reduction strategies, the new Quantify and Assess Embodied Carbon prerequisite will be familiar. For projects that aren’t yet considering the embodied carbon of materials, this prerequisite will be the nudge needed to assess the most carbon intensive materials (asphalt, concrete, masonry, structural steel, insulation, aluminum extrusions, structural wood and composites, cladding, and glass), identify the top three sources, and make a plan to reduce the impacts of these hot spots.  

The new Carbon Assessment and Operational Carbon Projection and Decarbonization Plan prerequisites align with corporate net zero commitments for Scopes 1 and 2 and the Planning for Zero Waste Operations prerequisite aligns with zero waste goals (and hopefully will increase demand for commercial composting in more cities!).  

Instead of treating LEED certification as a standalone, v5 positions it as an integral part of a comprehensive sustainability roadmap and aligns with ESG reporting. This alignment means we can use LEED to continue to have more meaningful conversations with organizations about how their building project fits into their larger environmental strategy. 

Restructuring Energy and Water Credits

The restructured energy credits in LEED v5 BD+C create natural opportunities for deeper and more integrated discussions about building performance. LEED v4 BD+C held 18 points in the Optimize Energy Performance credit, which focused on demonstrating a building’s designed energy cost savings through energy modeling. In LEED v5, that single pathway is now split into multiple, more targeted credits: 

• Enhanced Energy Efficiency (10 points) – Similar in spirit to the v4.1 Optimized Energy Performance credit, this rewards projects that demonstrate reduced modeled energy consumption and cost.

• Electrification (5 points) – Rewards all-electric designs, acknowledging that while electric systems may have higher operational costs in markets with inexpensive natural gas, they can deliver significant long-term carbon and efficiency benefits—especially as grid electricity becomes cleaner. 

• Reduce Peak Thermal Loads (5 points) – Drawn from Passive House principles, this credit encourages strategies to minimize heating and cooling peaks, improve resilience, support demand-response readiness, and reduce strain on the electric grid during peak conditions. 

For tenant fit out projects using ID+C, a new streamlined pathway allows projects that select energy efficient LEED-certified base buildings to pick up points. 

For water, the whole project water use reduction pathway, once an alternative compliance pathway under LEED v4, is now a standard option. This change is especially beneficial for data center projects, where air-cooled facilities can now receive appropriate credit on the LEED scorecard for this design over traditional water-cooled systems. This holistic water model will help other projects as well, pushing teams to compare each water use type to see where reductions or reuse will be most impactful. There are also new pathways for laboratories and projects with commercial kitchens to gain credit for selecting low-water-using appliances and equipment.

Resilience and Equity

LEED v5’s emphasis on resilience provides the tools and framework to have deeper conversations with project teams about how their buildings will perform not just today, but decades into the future. Teams are now required to consider the most prevalent climate risks at each site and develop a plan for the design to address them, with the Enhanced Resilient Site Design and Resilient Spaces credits serving as a guide for what good looks like.

Equity considerations are distributed throughout the new rating system, with a prerequisite for a Human Impact Assessment and a credit for Accessibility and Inclusion that pulls from the WELL rating system. 

Practical Improvements

Some of the most exciting improvements under LEED v5 are small but impactful updates that will allow us to focus on strategies that really move the needle and not get caught in the weeds of points chasing. Some of our favorite improvements include:  

• No more walk-off mat length requirements! Architects will be stoked! This is a perfect example of LEED v5’s more practical approach. 

• For water submetering, v5 no longer requires the use of deductive metering to exclude janitor’s sinks and dishwashers to submeter the “indoor plumbing fixtures and fittings” category! This change removes a significant cost and complexity burden while still achieving the credit’s underlying goal of promoting water conservation awareness. 

• Even projects that don’t quite meet the nearby bike network requirements can earn a point for providing bike maintenance equipment (which still supports people who are able to bike to work) AND a point for providing showers (which also supports those who want to exercise during lunch or walk to work!). 

Brightworks Sustainability looks forward to digging into LEED v5 on future projects with teams that are ready to make a real impact!

Ready to explore how LEED v5 can benefit your next project? Contact a Brightworker to discuss how the new and improved rating system can connect to your corporate commitments and sustainability goals. 

Written by Elena Goldstein-Lake, Sustainable Buildings Technical Lead, Brightworks Sustainability 
Edited for clarity by Sunni Wissmer, Market Engagement Lead, Brightworks Sustainability and Corey Hastings, Marketing Consultant