We’ve offered builders and developers benefits, like extra floor area and height, in exchange for meeting green building standards for 16 years. These incentives have helped create thousands of certified green buildings in Seattle, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
We recently published Draft Director’s Rule 2-2025, that supersedes Director’s Rule 4-2021, related to the Green Building Standard.
The new rule includes these key changes:
- Updates the approved certification program levels and versions
- Refines the site development requirements to focus on embodied carbon reduction
- Simplifies application forms and processes
We still recognize the same Green Building certification programs but have updated the Director’s Rule to the latest program versions for:
The approved certification level for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), is now Platinum under version 4.0 or 4.1, instead of Gold for construction permits subject to the 2021 Seattle Energy Code.
The minimum certification level remains Gold for projects subject to the 2018 Seattle Energy Code.
LEED plays a key role in driving national energy efficiency, but because Seattle’s energy code is so strong LEED certification does not compare well with other certification programs with respect to energy efficiency. For example, LEED Gold projects often gain the maximum energy points simply by designing code.
Comparatively, Built Green relies on Washington State code so that 4-Star projects more closely match LEED Platinum. In view of that, no additional energy efficiency requirements beyond the code are proposed in the rule. Phius and LBC certifications are likely to result in efficiency levels that are better than the code. Aside from energy efficiency, third party certifications remain important benchmarks for site design, material resourcing and embodied carbon, indoor air quality, social equity, and water efficiency.
LEED will be opening registration for version 5 later this year with a renewed focus on decarbonization, quality of life, ecological conservation and restoration. This could result in revisions to the rule for LEED in the future. However, LEED version 4 and version 4.1 registrations will likely be available for many years during the implementation of version 5.