The Green Lease Leaders program sets the standard for what constitutes a green lease, also known as “high-performance” or “energy-aligned” lease.

To create these standards, the Institute for Market Transformation and the U.S. Department of Energy Better Buildings Alliance collaborated with an industry advisory group of leading-edge landlords, tenants, brokers and other green leasing experts. The program requirements are summarized below and fully defined within the applications and reference guides.

Who can apply

Tenants, landlords, and teams who collaborated on a leasing transaction

Application period

October 1— February 24

Recognition length

3 years before re-application required


Green Lease Leaders recognizes three levels of achievement.

Platinum (Innovation)

  • Meet Gold-level requirements
  • Track tenant space energy use
  • Show commitment to whole building performance reduction
  • Show implementation of social priorities in policies and practices
  • Documentation may include:
    • Executed lease
    • Executed work letter
    • Corporate guidelines, standard operating procedures and policies
    • Documentation of information requested or provided between landlord and tenant (e.g. emails or letters between tenants and landlords)

Case study may be completed with Green Lease Leader program staff

Gold (Implementation)

  • Show policies and practices executed in lease transactions
  • Show compliance with both prerequisites and at least five credits in the criteria listed in the Landlord and Tenant reference guides
  • Show implementation of both prerequisites and credits pursued in at least one executed lease
  • Documentation may include:
    • Executed lease
    • Executed work letter
    • Corporate guidelines, standard operating procedures and policies
    • Documentation of information requested or provided between landlord and tenant (e.g. emails or letters between tenants and landlords)
  • Case study may be completed with Green Lease Leader program staff

Silver

  • Show required policies and best practices are in place in your organization
  • Show compliance with both prerequisites and at least five credits in the criteria outlined in the Green Lease Leader reference guides for Landlords and Tenants
  • Documentation may include:
    • Standard lease
    • Standard work letter
    • Corporate guidelines or policies
    • Template tracking documents

Read the full program requirements

Landlord Reference Guide

Tenant Reference Guide

Team Application webpage