Canada and LEED: Approaches for LEED v4 Projects

Every year, the U.S. Green Building Council releases the top ten countries and regions for LEED outside of the U.S., and last year, Canada ranked second. In 2021 alone, 205 projects representing more than 34.5 million gross square feet (or 3.2 million gross square meters, for the Canadians) achieved LEED certification.

While the U.S. remains the world’s largest market for LEED, growing international demand means that there is a need for international equivalents to U.S.-based standards and programs referenced within LEED. LEED does this through Alternative Compliance Paths (ACPs), which provide international project teams with the opportunity to use equivalent means of demonstrating compliance with certain credit requirements. USGBC has developed specific ACPs for various regions to “increase the applicability of LEED for projects around the world.”