Top Sustainability Certifications Every Business Should Know

LEED, ISO 14001, and GRESB are the three certifications and benchmarks that come up most often when businesses talk about sustainability credentials. Each one measures something different: LEED evaluates a building, ISO 14001 evaluates a company's environmental management system and GRESB evaluates a real estate portfolio's ESG performance for investors. Here's what each one covers. 

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

LEED is a widely recognized green building certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It evaluates a building or project’s performance across multiple sustainability dimensions, including site development, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. 

It offers rating systems for a range of projects, from new construction to major renovations and ongoing operations. Buildings go through a thorough review process and are awarded up to 110 points. The more points achieved, the higher the level of LEED certification, which is comprised of four levels: LEED Certified, Silver Certification, Gold Certification and Platinum Certification.

While it requires a strategic and often resource-intensive effort to achieve, LEED certification can enhance building marketability and tenant satisfaction.

ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is an international standard that provides a framework for organizations to protect the environment and respond to changing environmental conditions. It promotes the adoption of best practices in environmental management, leading to improved compliance with regulations and enhanced resource efficiency. 

Companies must implement and maintain an Environmental Management system (EMS) in order to comply with ISO 14001 standards. This includes establishing policies, objectives and procedures to manage environmental impacts. Regular audits are conducted to ensure compliance and improvements. ISO 14001 is designed to be flexible and applicable to various types of organizations, regardless of size, type, or sector.

Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB)

GRESB has become the go-to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate investors and asset managers worldwide. It provides ESG data for financial markets and helps set benchmarks for the real estate industry by evaluating infrastructure and assets.

The process of producing a yearly GRESB report consists of collecting survey data from real estate and infrastructure companies, scoring it based on different criteria and publishing the results. There are four different GRESB assessments: real estate assessment, infrastructure fund assessment, infrastructure asset assessment and infrastructure development asset assessment.

Although GRESB is not technically a sustainability certification, it can be used with other certifications. For example, if buildings in a real estate portfolio have some green certification, they may receive a better GRESB rating.

Key Takeaway 

LEED, ISO 14001 and GRESB serve different purposes: LEED certifies a building, ISO 14001 certifies a company's environmental management practices, and GRESB benchmarks a real estate portfolio's ESG performance for investors. Many organizations pursue more than one, since they measure different things and can reinforce each other. Understanding what each one actually evaluates is the first step to building a broader sustainability strategy.