Five years after its founding, the organization established its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system to promote practices and certify projects that improve the health and wellbeing of building occupants as well as the economic, operational, and environmental performance of the buildings themselves. Now in its fifth iteration, LEED v5 was launched in April 2025 and features changes to the rating system for Building Design and Construction (BD+C), Interior Design and Construction (ID+C), and Operations and Maintenance (O+M) which more closely align with environmental goals and business priorities.

Further, LEED v5 embeds resilience into the decision-making process through credits such as the Climate Resilience Assessment Prerequisite, which is required for all projects and helps teams identify and evaluate climate and natural-hazard risks early in the planning process, driving long-term value for the building owners, occupants, and the greater community.

The changes have shifted how credit points are weighted. The points are now aligned around three impact areas: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration, with resilience and equity integrated within the quality of life area and woven throughout the rating system. These are the areas in which the organization feels the building industry needs to lead to accelerate the positive impacts therein.

Building intentionally
Each version of LEED has incrementally leveled up the degree of thoughtfulness and intention behind a building’s design and function and that is also true of v5, which addresses the changing circumstances building owners face as the urgency of climate change grows. The goal is to ensure that buildings perform under normal conditions, as well as the extraordinary ones.

“We know that buildings need to do more to perform well under normal conditions, but they also need to be prepared for future climate risks, for acute and chronic stressors, to support occupant health and safety and contribute to stronger communities,” Associate Director, LEED Technical Development, Karema Enos, explains. “We’re asking teams to really think more intentionally about the risks [to] their building, the acute and chronic risks that they may face over time, including hazards like extreme heat, like flooding, like wildfire and storms, all these things that we’ve been seeing more and more of.”

LEED v5 requires project teams to assess observed conditions as well as projected future climate and natural-hazard data, offering a more holistic approach to building performance over the life of an asset. The framework also goes beyond risk identification to consider how those challenges may affect long-term performance and resilience. But the implications of that approach extend beyond the building itself.

“Buildings are a part of a larger social and ecological system and when they’re designed and operated well, they can reduce harm, support recovery, and contribute to community wellbeing,” notes Enos. “It’s about protecting people and operations and investments and communities.”

More operations, specifically the physical building assets, need to be prepared for the new reality. Texas is a great example of a region where unique climate challenges and vulnerability to extreme weather can have a devastating effect on public health, infrastructure, and economic strength. The state is subject to extreme heat and drought conditions which place undue pressure on the energy grid and pose challenges to the agricultural productivity of the state. These unique conditions also contribute to the growing risk of wildfires and can strain emergency-response resources.

And while Central and West Texas deal with immense heat and drought, Texas’ Gulf Coast is exposed to hurricanes, storm surge, and coastal flooding, as climate change produces storms that stall, intensify, and carry greater volumes of moisture. Intense storms can also result in significant inland flooding. Paired with accelerated sea-level rise, the storm surges become ever more damaging, particularly where there is energy infrastructure. To make matters worse, lands that are prone to extended periods of drought have less absorptive qualities and thus can experience flash flooding and conditions of soil erosion that can lead to billions of dollars in damages and lives lost.

“Earlier approaches to building performance often focus on reducing environmental impact under expected conditions, and that remains important, but today, it also needs to ask how buildings perform during stress, during disruptions, during loss of electricity, or during changing climate conditions,” explains Enos.

Investing early
As climate risks continue to grow in number and severity, resilience becomes a core driver of asset performance and operational continuity, which is why USGBC has integrated it earlier in the decision-making process to better mitigate risks that pose a threat to productivity, profitability, and ecological wellbeing, both inside the built environment and beyond.

On the subject of business continuity, Deisy Verdinez, Public Relations & Communications Director, explains, “If you don’t invest in the beginning, then a flood, a hurricane, a storm, or whatever comes through and knocks your power out even for just a couple of days, that’s lost revenue. That’s not nearly as important as human lives, but it matters to a community whether a business can still continue to operate after some sort of weather event.”

Research on post-disaster business recovery demonstrates the importance of risk mitigation and proper preparation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that 40 percent of businesses will not reopen following a disaster, with 25 percent of those that do reopen failing within the first year, which demonstrates the importance of risk mitigation and proper preparation. While many concerns exist over the “first costs” associated with implementing these kinds of standards, when it comes to resilience, the value is demonstrable throughout the building’s lifecycle and performance.

“What you find is that over time, it saves you a lot more money putting these [resilience strategies] in place. It’s far more expensive to replace a building than it is to protect it,” notes Enos.

Resilience as a requirement
Indeed, resilience is not a “nice to have,” but a “must have,” serving as an essential component and core principle of sustainable building practice that LEED v5 seeks to advance.

LEED v5 helps project teams move from awareness to action through the Climate Resilience Assessment prerequisite, which requires teams to identify risks early and use those findings to inform decisions that may be rewarded in later credits within the rating system, improve overall building performance, and reduce the impacts of hazard risks. “We’re helping the industry deliver buildings with lower carbon [emissions], that are healthier, that are more equitable, that are more ecologically responsible, that are more resilient—and that has a domino effect on the industry,” says Enos.

As the LEED v5 rating system is implemented by more project teams, USGBC can begin to learn from early adopters and collect more performance data to inform future versions of LEED. “Those experiences will help demonstrate what resilience looks like across different project teams, in different regions and communities, so we look to learn more and see how things shape up for v6,” notes Enos.

A test of time
As projects pursue LEED v5 certification, the market can expect a new standard for building operation, function, and aesthetics to emerge, while reaping the countless advantages of truly sustainable (and resilient) design.

For Enos, “What LEED v5 does is help make those strategies more consistent, measurable, and scalable. It’s intended to be rigorous, but it’s also flexible enough to recognize that strategies look different depending on your geography, your building type, your site conditions, and your community’s needs. That is the entire purpose of having a ‘Certified’ to ‘Platinum’ scale.”

As implementation takes place, USGBC will continue to offer education, tools, and support to project teams to encourage and promote its adoption, raising the bar for projects and accelerating market transformation in the process.

And, as the market navigates this change, USGBC will continue to identify new ways to advance the standards that push the industry and the performance of the built environment forward for the wellbeing of all.

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Accoya is a high-performance, sustainable acetylated wood designed to overcome these challenges. Offering exceptional durability, dimensional stability and reliability, it provides the beauty and versatility of natural wood with performance typically associated with far more resource-intensive man-made materials or tropical hardwoods.

Accoya has been steadily gaining popularity in North America and has gained traction through its use in landmark projects ranging from hospitality and residential developments to major restoration and public infrastructure projects including the Rivington Hotel in Manhattan, the zero-carbon Marisol Malibu, and the restoration of the Minnesota State Capitol.

“Accoya is the most durable and stable wood in the world,” says Sergio Munhoz, North American Sales Director. “It’s a modified wood made with radiata pine that goes through a process we call acetylation. After the reaction and change on a cellular level, this wood becomes extremely strong and durable, ideal for outdoor use.”

Changing wood at the cellular level
The acetylation process permanently transforms wood at a cellular level by increasing its naturally occurring acetyl content. This changes how the wood interacts with the elements, minimizing rot and decay. The result is an exceptionally durable material backed by a 25-year warranty for in-ground use and up to 50 years for above-ground use. The finished wood is completely non-toxic, contains no plastic, and can be recycled at the end of its life as normal wood.

Acetylation, in contrast to many preservative systems, penetrates the board’s thickness rather than acting as a surface layer. Because Accoya is transformed at the cellular level, users can drill, profile, and cut it without compromising its performance. This gives designers and manufacturers greater flexibility than many other wood species, for which exposed end grain and re-cut edges can become vulnerable.

“This is a unique product in the marketplace that customers love,” adds Munhoz.

These customers include landscape architects and manufacturers of siding, decking, windows, and doors, all citing the versatility of this product when compared to other woods in the market. “It’s workable and machinable but with the power of a hardwood,” Munhoz says. “People love it because it’s extremely stable, durable, and long lasting.”

Specified for high-profile projects
Some notable Accoya projects include the Bow Bridge and Gothic Bridge—both featuring Accoya decking—in New York’s Central Park, as well as the MOLLIE Hotel in Aspen siding; the Ark Encounter in Kentucky; and Google’s UK headquarters. The Google development is particularly distinctive. “It’s called a landscaper, similar to a skyscraper but in landscape mode,” Gillian Edwards, Head of Communications and ESG at Accoya, says of the Google project.

Growing investment in outdoor living is increasing demand for siding and decking that combine long-term performance with a natural look and feel. This preference for wood over plastic or metal gives Accoya a strong fit with the way homeowners and designers are approaching exterior spaces.

“That’s something we have seen as a trend in natural design, and it’s helping us grow faster and make Accoya a good solution,” adds Munhoz. The radiata pine used to manufacture Accoya also allows for a beautiful grain and a light color that in turn permits a wide variety of different, beautiful finishes.

On top of offering the regular natural look, a newer product, Accoya Color Gray, goes through an additional process that impregnates pigments on the wood all the way through, meaning it can be cut and sanded and is colored through from surface to core without requiring a coating. “It’s natural. It’s beautiful—the soft touch, the feel—it’s amazing, and it offers the same warranty and the same properties, and it’s extremely popular,” Munhoz shares. “People love it.”

Local production supports wider adoption
Until recently, Accoya supply in North America was relatively constrained because all material was imported from Europe. That changed in September 2024 with the opening of the Accoya USA facility in Tennessee. With local production now fully operational, customers can benefit from improved availability, faster delivery, and responsive service.

“We’re growing significantly,” says General Manager, Rod Graf. “It’s about being able to let people know that we are here and we’re much more available. We’re still providing that special product, but now you can get your hands on more.”

Sustainability and performance hand in hand
Accoya’s performance is supported by strong sustainability credentials. All of it is made from responsibly sourced, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood, coming from well managed plantations in New Zealand. “Even as we grow and expand, the reason we choose New Zealand is that the wood grows very fast, so it’s on a 25- to 28-year cycle,” Edwards explains. “It can grow quickly and it can replenish quickly, and that makes it very sustainable.”

Accoya is low carbon over its lifetime. Because of its long service life of 60 years and excellent stability, the need for repair, restoration, and maintenance is dramatically reduced. Several coatings manufacturers even offer up to 15 years’ warranty for coatings on Accoya.

Accoya holds Cradle to Cradle Gold V3.1 certification, one of the strictest and most stringent eco labels to exist. “Accoya is one of the very few building products that is Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold, which is very difficult to get,” says Edwards. “It takes us about a year and a half to go through the certification process, which looks at all aspects of manufacturing, the ingredients of the product, whether they can be recycled, and the energy we use.”

The process even looks at health and safety, making sure the company is looking after its people and workforce. “It’s a really, really rigorous standard, and one we’re very proud to have.”

Accoya’s EPD can also help specifiers to achieve LEED v5, meeting high standards for environmental sustainability. “We have a verified EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) which is becoming very important for architects,” says Edwards. “There’s a lot of regulation now that’s looking at the whole embodied carbon of a building, so having an EPD is essential for people to be able to factor in the impact of our product.”

Its high performance attributes position Accoya at the premium end of the market. “It’s a premium product because of the performance attributes—the 50-year warranty, the 60-year service life, and the extremely low maintenance costs over the life of the building,” he says. “When the customer understands these benefits across time, they understand that it’s going to be cost-effective for them and their projects, and they love it.”

Now, Accoya is focused on expanding its range of products as it grows and attracts more customers, with different profiles and sizes to suit a broader range of requirements. The company is also continually exploring new, local species that may work as well as radiata pine.

More than a product, however, the personal belief in what Accoya is doing for the industry—and the environment at large—is vital. “I’m Brazilian, and I grew up in Brazil seeing a lot of tropical hardwoods around when I was a kid, and I don’t see those when I come back to see my family anymore because they’ve harvested those trees that live 150 years,” says Munhoz. “Every time I sell Accoya, I believe people are cutting fewer trees from my home country. That for me means a lot. I have some emotions behind it myself. I believe in this company. I was drawn by that.”

Edwards also has a personal connection to the company and its product. “We’ve got a purpose statement, which is ‘changing wood to change the world,’ and I was very drawn by that,” she says. “But I’m also a product advocate as well. Before I joined the company, I had some Accoya sash windows installed. I live in London, UK and we have Victorian housing where windows get jammed when it gets hot or wet. The Accoya ones I can vouch for have never gotten jammed and move perfectly like the day they were installed.”

For Graf, joining Accoya USA meant building a strong local business, creating skilled jobs, and increasing access to a product that offers something distinctive. “It’s the best substrate, the best wood fiber in the world,” he says. “It’s gold. It’s just a fantastic product.” He has also been struck by employees’ desire to work for a company with a sustainable product, strong environmental credentials, and recognized certifications.

“It has also impressed many of our clients,” says Munhoz, who have heard it’s the only wood that allows architects in New York City to not use metal or aluminum in some of their projects because of the product’s stability and other properties. “That’s powerful because we know that metal and aluminum are not really sustainable products… that’s super powerful.”

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