As green building certifications evolve, criteria around managing operational emissions is tightening, longer-term planning is in focus and achieving the top ratings is becoming more stringent.

The latest versions of LEED and BREEAM certifications particularly champion decarbonization through revised requirements, scoring methods, and evaluation criteria on operational as well as embodied carbon.

Launched earlier this year, LEED v5 now allocates almost half of all certification points to carbon-cutting measures addressing materials, energy use, cooling systems, and transport-related emissions.

“LEED v5 puts greater focus on sustainable building operations. Credits for plans to improve performance, alongside new categories for resilience and human impact, indicate the shift towards longer-term, dynamic sustainability measures,” says Annalise Dum, Senior Vice President, Sustainability at JLL.

Market emphasis on operational performance is increasingly driven by corporate occupiers who seek spaces that support their net zero commitments.

BREEAM v7, rolling out this year, has a renewed focus on managing and reporting whole-life carbon and net zero targets, aligning with global sustainability benchmarks and EU taxonomy. Certifications from Living Future Institute (formerly the International Living Future Institute), also dial up thresholds on energy efficiency and embodied carbon.

“The intent is to align with net zero, which is indicative of the market direction of travel,” says Matthew Ramsey, Associate, Sustainability Consulting at JLL. “Going beyond emissions monitoring, BREEAM v7 credits emissions reduction, and introduces prerequisites for water efficiency, ecology and health, in step with evolving corporate sustainability strategies.” 

With 65% of office stock at risk of stranding by 2030, greens certifications can also underpin asset future-proofing.

“These updated frameworks define sustainability beyond building regulations and help mitigate climate risk and the need for future, costlier retrofits,” says Ramsey.

For example, all BREEAM v7 levels include new benchmarks to demonstrate net gain in biodiversity, beyond the UK’s mandatory biodiversity legislation passed in 2024.

Reporting obligations can help shape strategies for which credits to pursue. “Companies need to consider what data is required by the standards they report against, and ensure it aligns with their credit strategies for certification,” says Ramsey.

The building performance data required by BREEAM v7 and LEED v5 also aligns with planning applications that increasingly consider environmental impact, and supports direct reporting to global sustainability standards such as EU Taxonomy, TCFD and GRI. This can provide a useful template for multinationals that face varying regulatory requirements across markets, Ramsey adds.