Global green building leaders

The countries with the most green buildings table.

The cities leading the way in different types of green buildings

The LEED rating system is used for all types of buildings, including offices, education, healthcare, hospitality, industrial and residential buildings. We’ve taken a closer look at the types of LEED buildings different cities have to reveal winners in each category.

The cities with the highest percentage of green buildings by category table.

The US states leading the way in green buildings

With the US dominating the leaderboard when it comes to the country with the highest amount of LEED certified projects, we’ve taken a closer look to reveal the states with the most LEED projects and reveal the winners in each category.

US states with the most green buildings table.

Through sustainable design, construction and operations, LEED buildings are reducing carbon emissions and therefore becoming one of the most demanded certifications as sustainability grows in importance.

How to make your home more energy efficient

The energy we use in all our homes produces about a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions. Energy saving measures are essential if we want to achieve the goal of a zero carbon future. Many energy saving measures are very cheap and could make a big difference to your bills and carbon emissions. Below are just some of the ways you can make your home more energy efficient:

1. Insulation

Insulating your home not only makes it more energy efficient, it is also one of the best things you can do to reduce your energy bills. Insulating your home will make your house warmer and more comfortable, whilst also reducing its impact on the environment in the process. Find out more here.

2. Draught proofing

Draught-proofing is not only a quick and cheap way to warm up your home, the improved ventilation and air flow control will reduce damp and condensation. Find out the most common causes of draughts and how to fix them here.

3. Windows and doors

If your windows only have single glazing, then it's likely that you'll be losing up to 20% of heat through them. Windows and doors account for a significant portion of heat loss, so any measures you can take to prevent this happening are worthwhile, and will save on your energy bills. Read our guide here to find out more about window insulation and double glazing.

To get the best prices, compare energy deals and switch today.

Methodology:

Country and city totals were compiled based on the LEED Projects Directory as maintained by the U.S. Green Buildings Council. LEED projects were classified by their end use on the basis of the first use category listed in the "Project Type" field in the Projects Directory database. "Other/Unknown" category incorporates projects that weren't numerous enough to warrant their own category, i.e. "Military" and projects where the type was labeled as "Other" or "Unknown". Projects that were in their planning phase (e.g. designated under LEED-ND), rather than being completed, were excluded from the dataset. Country populations were taken from the World Bank's "Population, Total" indicator. City populations were obtained from Simple Maps "US Cities" and "World Cities" datasets. State populations were taken from the U.S. Census Bureau. Only countries with 50 or more LEED projects were included. Only cities with 20 or more LEED projects were included. LEED projects, where location was listed as "Confidential" or partial, i.e. only indicating country or its subdivision (state, province), but specifying country were included in the country totals, but excluded from city totals. Data was collated in Apr 2021 with occasional use of dplyr package in R.