The city’s leadership in building efficiency has earned national recognition. Notable accomplishments include Atlanta leading the nation in participation in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge program with 114 million square feet of building space committed to reducing their energy and water consumption by at least 20 percent by 2020; passing the Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance in 2015; undergoing investment grade audits of 100 City-owned facilities; and the committing to transitioning to 100 percent clean energy sources for municipal operations by 2025 and for the entire city by 2035.

The LEED rating system, developed by USGBC, is a program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance. There are more than 2,700 LEED-certified local government projects and more than 90,000 commercial projects currently participating in LEED.