Surrounded by more than 200 acres of protected forest in Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, Heritance Kandalama was the world’s first resort to be LEED certified, a feat accomplished in 2000 just two years after the U.S. Green Building Council launched the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification program. The 5-star property treats and repurposes 100 percent of its wastewater and effluents and works to achieve its goal of zero waste reaching landfill, among other sustainability efforts.

Now in 180 countries, LEED offers a framework for building and operating hotels and resorts sustainably. It awards certification based on the number of points a building earns, with four levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The program currently boasts more than 4,054 LEED-certified and -registered lodging and hotel projects, with the United States and Europe leading in numbers.

According to USGBC, green buildings use on average 26 percent less energy, emit 33 percent less carbon dioxide, use 30 percent less indoor water, and send 50–75 percent less solid waste to landfills and incinerators. “One of their main reasons for pursuing LEED is it does help their profits,” said Stefanie Young, vice president, Client Solutions, USGBC. “The more efficient the building is with water and energy, the more the long-term savings.”

Recently added to the growing list of certified resorts, Maxx Royal Bodrum Resort is Türkiye’s first hospitality project to achieve LEED Platinum certification under LEED v4 for Building Design and Construction. Efforts included marine and coastal ecosystem restoration, wildlife conservation, soil enrichment and reuse, and integration of green spaces and roofs.

Another 2024 addition, the new Vanderbilt Tower at The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, earned LEED Silver certification, boasting 20 percent reduction in energy consumption, more than 95 percent construction waste diversion and an emphasis on sight lines to the outdoors. The first hotel to receive LEED Zero Carbon Certification, in 2021, India’s ITC Windsor, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bengaluru, produces power with wind turbine generators and uses energy- efficient technologies such as an electric boiler. Meanwhile, two resorts in China — Shanghai Disney Resort and Universal Beijing Resort — achieved LEED for Communities certification, which looks at conservation and human elements regarding employment and quality of life.

This year USGBC and Green Business Certification Inc., the organization managing LEED certification, will introduce LEED v5, focusing on decarbonization, electrification, equity, green finance, net zero, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration.

“All projects, including hospitality, going forward, need to meet those newer requirements, and the goal is to have a stronger emphasis on imperatives such as decarbonization and human health. It’s continuously raising that bar,” Young said.