The U.S. Green Building Council released its ranking of the top 10 countries for LEED® outside of the United States, with Canada coming in at the top spot.

“The global community is increasingly recognizing the imperative for action as we combat the extraordinary challenge of worldwide climate change,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO, and founding chair of USGBC. “LEED’s success across a wide variety of cultures, climates, and communities represents not only a growing recognition of its demonstrated benefits for human health and operational cost savings, but also its unparalleled potential to be part of the solution to a warming planet and rising sea levels.”

To date, projects teams in more than 140 countries and territories have implemented LEED in their building projects, according to USGBC. The ranking of the top 10 countries for LEED outside of the U.S. is based on cumulative gross square meters (GSM) of space certified to LEED in each nation as of April 2014.

Canada tops the list, with 17.74 million GSM of LEED space. Collectively, Canada boasts 4,068 total LEED-registered and -certified projects, representing 58.66 million total GSM of LEED space.

China and India, two of the world’s fastest growing economies and rapid adopters of sustainable building practices, took second and third place on the list, respectively, boasting 14.30 million and 11.64 million GSM of LEED-certified space.

Other Asian nations in the top 10 include South Korea, at No. 4 with 3.84 million GSM of LEED-certified space; Taiwan, at No. 5 with 2.98 million GSM; and Singapore, at No. 8 with 2.16 million GSM.

In Europe, Germany and Finland secured spots six and 10, respectively — Germany with 2.90 million GSM of LEED-certified space and Finland with 1.45 million.

In South America, Brazil stood at No. 7 on the list, with 2.85 million GSM, while the United Arab Emirates represented green building success in the Middle East, at No. 9 with 1.82 million GSM of LEED-certified space.