WASHINGTON — The world’s top-performing companies are prioritizing sustainability as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts, and a majority of them are using the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program to achieve their goals, according to a new survey released by the USGBC. The study looked at Fortune 200 companies, most of them users of LEED and members of USGBC.

“We launched LEED 15 years ago so that the world’s leading businesses would have a tool that would deliver the immediate, measureable results they need to prove that what is good for the environment is also good for the bottom line,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “This survey demonstrates how successful we’ve been in helping link profit to planet and why LEED certifies 1.85 million square feet of commercial space every day.”

The survey, “LEED and the Corporate Built Environment,” showed 82 percent of survey respondents from Fortune 200 companies are likely to continue using LEED over the next three years for new construction or retrofit projects, 60 percent of surveyed companies believe LEED positively impacts their return on investment (ROI), 70 percent stated they pursue LEED as a means to save money by being more energy efficient, and 80 percent agree LEED is a key way their company communicates sustainability efforts to stakeholders.

Of the respondents, which encompassed 48 of the Fortune 200 companies, 96 percent use LEED to support their sustainability efforts. Nearly all — 93 percent — reported demonstrating a commitment to the environment motivates their company to use LEED.

USGBC partnered with Keybridge LLC to produce the survey, which was targeted at executives in charge of building operations or corporate sustainability efforts.

For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.

Publication date: 4/20/2015

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