Dive Insight:

Last year at the COP21 climate conference in Paris, the USGBC committed to increasing its LEED- and EDGE-certified space by 5 billion square feet by 2021. According to the organization, buildings account for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and building green is a way to reduce the severity of climate change.

A Dodge Data & Analytics World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report indicated that the international green building market is expected to double every three years. In addition, an August report from Zion Research projected that the worldwide green building materials market will reach $255 billion by 2020. In 2014, North America represented 40% of a then-$127.5 billion green materials market.

The USGBC’s complete Top 10 Countries for LEED:

1. China (373 million square feet; 931 projects)
2. Canada (370 million square feet; 2,586 projects)
3. India (171 million square feet; 644 projects)
4. Brazil (80 million square feet; 380 projects)
5. Republic of Korea (64 million square feet; 97 projects)
6. Taiwan (61 million square feet; 99 projects)
7. Germany (54 million square feet; 215 projects)
8. Turkey (51 million square feet; 191 projects)
9. Sweden (42 million square feet; 210 projects)
10. United Arab Emirates (39 million square feet; 180 projects)