In spite of all the widespread violations of various housing laws and rules when it comes to slums and unauthorised colonies, India still manages to keep its promises when it comes to green buildings. India bagged the third position this year in the US Green Building Council (USGBC) annual ranking of the top 10 countries for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ), a green building rating system. China who is currently battling red-level hazardous smog, was next in the rankings, followed by Canada.

An estimated one-third of global emissions are accounted from buildings and a green certification provides cost-effective solutions to climate change since these structures provide significant environmental, economic and societal benefits.

The reason why India leads in the rankings is because it has 15.90 million gross square metres (GSM) of LEED-certified space and at the same time an additional 89.28 million cumulative GSM of LEED-certified and registered space. Also, India is among the top 100 countries who are making progress in sustainable designs of buildings, operations and even construction outside the United States. According to Dodge Data and Analytics, which provides data, analytics in the North American commercial construction industry, global green buildings are expected to double every three years and India is a part of that trend.

It has been found by the analytics company’s World Green Building Trends 2016 Smart Market Report that the emerging economies will continue to be the engines of green growth as the development varies from two-fold to six-fold over current green building levels.

On the other hand, an increased consumer demand has pushed the world’s green building market to a whopping trillion-dollar industry. Indeed a surge that has actually led to a corresponding increase in the scope and size of the green building materials market, which in fact is expected to reach $234 billion by the year 2019.

Mahesh Ramanujam, who is the president and chief executive officer of USGBC, called India a leader in the international community which drives market transformation across the globe. He said, “With a focus on LEED and green buildings, India is prioritising environmental and human health in the built environment on a holistic scale and helping us get one step closer to a green building for all within this generation.”

LEED-certified buildings help the residents and businesses make savings by helping them save energy and water. Such spaces help reduce the carbon emissions and create a healthier environment for the residents, workers and the community at large. The analysis was used to develop a rank list o countries in terms of cumulative commercial LEED-certified GSM space as on December 2016. The full Top 10 Countries for LEED ranking is as follows:

As per the report, 82,000 commercial projects involve LEED which totals more than 1.4 billion GSM of space worldwide. Also, an additional 112,000 residential units that have been certified under LEED Homes. In more than 162 countries and even across the globe, an estimated 170,000 GSM of space acheives LEED certification almost every day.

For the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement, which was signed by India earlier this year, the USGBC is trying its level best to achieve Net Zero Carbon designation and also spot leaders in the building sector for reduction of carbon footprint across the building.