Is LEED Greenwash?

According to Environmental Leader yesterday the U.S. District Court in New York City dismissed a lawsuit charging the U.S. Green Building Council with false advertising over its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

This is such an interesting case because it speaks to the heart of the perennial question: What is greenwash? Generally, greenwash applies when the following can be said about a company or organization’s green claims:

• No meaningful or verifiable criteria
• Not consistent, clear or transparent
• Not independent or protected from conflict of interest
• Does not provide opportunities for public comment

LEED seems clear on all the above counts.  But, doesn’t it really comes down to whether LEED allows building owners to exaggerate their environmental achievements.

As an outspoken opponent of greenwash, I have struggled with LEED for some time. LEED is a certification process that provides benchmarks rather than a set of standards. Developers and building owners pick and choose from a laundry list of greening strategies to reach a green building design that aggregates green standards. As a result, it is true that LEED certification can actually be achieved even in the complete absence of, for example, important energy efficiencies. This loophole remains a major criticism of the LEED program. Additionally, separate LEED ratings systems exist for different building types, so the benchmarks vary depending on your building use and whether you are building from scratch or renovating an existing space.

And, while I agree with the U.S. District Court in New York City, that LEED does not qualify for greenwash, for small projects and therefore small businesses, it is often not feasible (mostly because of the expense and entrenched monitoring requirements) to apply for LEED certification.  And, because only large budgets can accommodate the certification process, I do believe this makes LEED unfair and biased. But, truth be told, even if a building cannot afford to follow individual LEED criteria, LEED raises the bar for us all. LEED is important because it provides motivation to achieve the intent of greening — even without the certification itself. For that LEED is a wonderful tool.  In the end, I believe that LEED promotes sustainable building practices and is not about promoting exaggerated environmental achievements. And since LEED’s approach is holistic—and not just eye candy—I think its fair to say it is therefore legitimate.  But, there’s clearly room for improvement.