The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

LEED is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. It provides building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance.

LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health:

Certification is based on the total point score achieved, following an independent review and an audit of selected Credits. There are four levels of certification: certified, silver, gold and platinum.

The Canadian rating system is an adaptation of the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED Green Building Rating System, tailored specifically for Canadian climates, construction practices and regulations. The rating system is adapted to the Canadian market through an inclusive process that engages stakeholders and experts representing the various sectors of the Canadian industry.

Why Certify?

A rapidly-growing number of private sector organizations and governments are adopting LEED certification in their policies, programming and operations, with the goal of achieving and demonstrating sustainability. The reasons for certifying include:

• Gain recognition for green building efforts
• Validate achievement through third party review
• Qualify for a growing array of government incentives
• Contribute to a growing green building knowledge base

Source is fom the Canadian Green Building Council web site http://www.cagbc.org/leed/what/index.php