LEED Certification Dates to Know in 2025

Story at a glance:

• Standard LEED certification reviews are completed within 20 to 25 days after submission.
• Expedited LEED Certification reviews—available for an additional fee—are typically completed within 10 to 12 days following submission.
• Projects attempting to achieve LEED certification before the end of February 2025 must submit for an expedited final review by February 11.

In our modern age, LEED certification is one of the foremost ways to showcase a building’s commitment to sustainability. If you want your building to join the 190,000-plus LEED-certified projects around the world, mark your calendar with the following dates.

This article is intended to serve as a reference guide to important LEED certification dates and will be updated periodically.

LEED Certification Dates: What You Need to Know

This courthouse was designed to LEED Gold BD+C standards. Photo by Gabe Ford

If your team is attempting to earn LEED certification by a certain date, adhering to the USGBC’s timelines outlined in the tables below can help ensure that you meet your goals. As a general rule all timelines assume that no mid-review clarifications or supplemental reviews following appeals will be necessary, in which case Green Building Certification Inc. (GBCI) will provide a review report within 20 to 25 business days from the day the review began.

The below schedules also assume that project teams submit any clarifications within 25 business days after their review results are received. Payment of any and all certification fees must clear before a review can be initiated.

Project teams should also be aware that:

• The deadlines included in the tables below apply to all applications for LEED Design & Construction (BD+C and ID+C), LEED Operations & Maintenance (O+M initial and recertification), LEED for Neighborhood Development (ND), LEED for Cities & Communities, LEED Zero certification, and LEED Residential.
• Review timelines given in the tables below DO NOT apply to the LEED Volume prototype or any large batches of projects submitted all at once, as they do not follow the standard 20 to 25 business days turnaround time. Teams planning on submitting projects under LEED Volume or more than five applications at a time should inform GBCI as soon as possible.
• LEED for Neighborhood Development certification timelines do not take into account optional reviews; teams intending to submit for LEED ND Prerequisite review and/or LEED ND: Plan – Letter of Support should allow sufficient time for two rounds of review to be completed before the LEED ND: Plan – Certified Plan or LEED ND: Built Project certification review deadlines.
• Likewise, certification timelines for all projects using LEED Residential rating systems do not account for or consider optional pre-reviews; teams intending to submit a ventilation calculator, outdoor water demand calculator, or energy model for pre-review should allow sufficient time for two rounds of review to be completed before workbook submission deadlines.

Keep in mind that the following dates are approximate and are not necessarily guaranteed. Projects looking to achieve review milestones by a specific date should inform GBCI as soon as possible, as most programs offer an expedited review process.

A Note on Expedited Reviews

For an additional fee project teams have the option of submitting for an expedited review, which typically reduces the review turnaround time to 10 to 12 days instead of the usual 20 to 25.

The availability of expedited reviews, however, is entirely dependent on GBCI capacity. For this reason, teams requesting an expedited review need to contact GBCI at least 10 days prior to submitting their project application to provide their project number, expected date of submission, and confirm their agreement to the additional fees. This information allows GBCI to determine whether any review teams are available and have the capacity to perform an expedited review.

Should GBCI determine that an expedited review is possible, both the certification fee and expedited review surcharge must be paid before the review can begin. Expedited review timelines assume 10 business days after the preliminary review is returned for teams to prepare any clarifications and submit for their final review.

Timelines to Achieve LEED Certification Before Greenbuild (Nov. 12, 2024)

The UC Davis Health Admin Building project was designed by Stantec to LEED Gold standards. Photo by Kat Alves

The table below includes important dates for those projects looking to achieve LEED certification before the 2024 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. All dates and deadlines in the table account for holidays when both USGBC and GBCI offices are closed—in this case, only Labor Day (Sept. 2) is a factor.

Timelines to Achieve LEED Certification Before the End of 2024

HED’s Chicago office earned LEED ID+C: Commercial Interiors Platinum certification on May 3, 2024. Photo courtesy of HED

All dates and deadlines in the table below account for holidays when both USGBC and GBCI offices are closed—these include Sept. 2, Nov. 11, Nov. 28 and 29, and Dec. 25 through January 1.

Timelines to Achieve LEED Certification Before the End of February 2025

The CannonDesign LinkedIn project is LEED Platinum– and WELL Platinum–certified. Photo by Kyle Jeffers

All dates and deadlines in the table below account for holidays when both USGBC and GBCI offices are closed—these include Nov. 28 and 29, Dec. 25 through January 1, Jan. 20, and Feb. 17.

LEED Certification Dates to Know in 2025

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