D.C. is the world’s first LEED Platinum city

The nation’s capital has a total of 120 LEED-certified projects, the most LEED-certified projects per capita than any state, and now it’s become the first city in the world to receive a LEED for Cities Platinum leadership certification. This certification is the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest award.

According to WAMU, receiving this status means that D.C. has created a set of sustainability goals and submitted performance data to the Green Building Council so that it can track the District’s progress.

At an announcement, Mayor Muriel Bowser said, “It is in the best interest of Washington, D.C.’s safety, economy, and future to take sustainability and resiliency seriously. As the nation’s capital, we have a special obligation to lead the way on environmental issues.”

Thanks to the D.C. Policy Center, the District is able to pinpoint which buildings in the city emit the highest gas emissions.

With this, the city’s Climate Action Plan hopes to reduce carbon emissions to 50 percent of 2006 levels by 2032, and 80 percent by 2050. Between 2011 and 2013, greenhouse gases fell 23 percent citywide.

There are three public school buildings in D.C. that are LEED Platinum-certified.

• D.C. Named World’s First LEED Platinum City [WAMU]

• D.C. Becomes World's First Platinum LEED City [DCist]