Buildings have a profound impact on our natural environment, economy, health, and productivity. In North America, the built environment accounts for approximately one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, energy,water, and material consumption, and generates similar proportions of pollution. Indoor air quality is regarded as one of the top environmental health risks today, affecting the well-being, productivity and performance of many people .

As concerns increase about sustainability in building design and operation, there is a need to develop a framework for assessing and quantifying buildings so that questions such as, "What is sustainable design?" and "How green is this project?" can be addressed. In response to this, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system was developed to provide such a framework for North America.

What is LEED?

The LEED system was developed to provide standard for what constitutes a "sustainable building” and to transform existing building markets so that sustainable design, construction
and operation become mainstream practices.

LEED aims to improve occupant well-being, environmental performance and economic returns from buildings, using both established and innovative practices, standards and technologies. It is also intended to prevent exaggerated or false claims of sustainability, and to
provide a common standard of measurement.