China first, India second in LEED 2025 ranking

United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) have placed China first and India second outside the United States of America in the 2025 LEED list.The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) released the latest ‘annual list’ of 10 countries and regions for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in 2025, outside the United States of America (USA).The United States continues to lead globally in LEED adoption with more than 50 million gross square meters of certified space.

Outside the US, Mainland China topped the list with 26,645,737 gross square meters (GSM) of LEED-certified space across 1,939 projects.According to the list, India moved from third position in 2024 to second position in 2025 in terms of total LEED-certified space, recording more than 16,111,512 gross square meters (GSM) across 611 projects during the year.

Key results of USGBC LEED List 2025

¨     LEED Certification: There was a significant increase in LEED certification worldwide last year, with more than 7,500 commercial projects certified, totaling over 147 million GSM.

¨     Global Leader: USA remains the global leader in LEED adoption, with 50,129,093 GSM of certified space across 2,228 projects.

¨     Other countries in the list: Canada ranked third with 288 projects covering 8,450,146 GSM, followed by the Republic of Korea with 100 projects (3,879,192 GSM) and Mexico with 144 projects (3,294,953 GSM).

¨     The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) ranked sixth with 3,158,950 GSM across 96 projects, followed by Brazil in seventh place with 2,933,631 GSM across 171 projects.

¨     Vietnam entered the top 10 ranking for the first time, ranking eighth with 2,602,797 GSM across 100 projects, while Sweden ranked ninth with 2,564,921 GSM across 183 projects.

¨     The United Arab Emirates secured a place in the top 10 by recording 2,251,714 GSM across 174 LEED-certified projects.

¨     In 2025, the largest and fastest growth in LEED-certified space occurred in industrial manufacturing and warehousing.

History of USGBC

¨     In April 1993, Rick Fedrizzi, David Gottfried, and Mike Italiano invited representatives from 60 firms and several non-profits to the boardroom of the American Institute of Architects for a founding meeting.

¨     Then, ideas were shared for an open and balanced coalition across the entire building industry and for a green building rating system, which later became LEED.

¨     By 1998, USGBC had successfully developed LEED 1.0 and started pilot testing with 19 projects. After the success of the pilot program, LEED for new construction was publicly launched in March 2000.