LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green building certification program widely used around the world. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides a framework and standards for building, designing, and managing environmentally responsible buildings and interior spaces. LEED has four levels of certifications and each one requires a certain number of credits in core categories to achieve certification. Core categories include: materials and resources, water efficiency, sustainable sites, energy and atmosphere, regional priority, indoor environmental quality, and innovative design.
WELL Building Standard is a leading global certification with a rating system that is the first of its kind to focus exclusively on how buildings, and interior spaces can support the health, and wellness of building occupants. Backed by science and research at the International WELL Building Institute, the performance-based system involves designing, measuring and monitoring core features of interior spaces that impact human health, and well-being. To achieve WELL standards requires a certain number of credits in core categories that include: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, materials, mind, and community.
Fitwel is the world’s leading certification system with a framework that helps support the design, development, and operations of healthy building interiors and communities. Originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the Center for Active Design now operates, and further integrates the best strategies that science has to offer to optimize health and wellness within a building or community. The Fitwel scorecard is a credit based system that focuses on strategies to advance the seven health impact categories that include: impacts surrounding community health, reduction of morbidity and absenteeism, supports social equity for vulnerable populations, instills feelings of well-being, enhances access to healthy foods, promotes occupant safety, and increases physical activity.
Living Building Challenge, run by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) is a certification with building standards that aim to create regenerative buildings and interior spaces. Informed by Biomimicry and Biophilia, the Living Building Challenge strives for a net-zero or a net-positive carbon footprint, and restoration of the surrounding natural ecosystems of the built environment. Creating healthy habitats for people, wildlife, and plant life.
The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) also launched a program named DECLARE, a transparency platform and product database that lists the environmental, health, and safety details of materials used to make a product. The information includes: where a product comes from, what it’s made of, and where the product goes at the end of its life.
DECLARE approved products can be used to achieve credits that go towards certifications like Living Building Challenge, LEED, and WELL Building Standard.