LEED Certification Levels Explained: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum Under v5
LEED certification comes in four levels, awarded by total points earned out of 110: Certified (40–49 points), Silver (50–59), Gold (60–79) and Platinum (80 and above). A project earns points by achieving optional credits across the rating system's categories; the more points, the higher the level. Those thresholds have been stable across LEED versions and carry over unchanged into LEED v5.
What did change in v5 is the top of the ladder. Under v5, 80 points alone no longer guarantee Platinum. A v5 BD+C project must also meet minimum achievement levels in a short list of decarbonization credits set out in the rating system's Appendix I: a genuinely new rule covered in detail below, and one that most descriptions of the levels written for earlier LEED versions do not mention. This page explains all four levels, how the 110 points are structured, the certified-versus-accredited vocabulary trap and why all of it is directly tested on the LEED Green Associate exam.
The four levels and their point thresholds
Two details are worth committing to memory. First, the bands are not equal in width: Certified and Silver each span 10 points, but Gold spans 20 (60 through 79), a favorite source of plausible wrong answers. Second, a project below 40 points is simply not certified; there is no level beneath Certified. The thresholds are published on usgbc.org's Guide to LEED Certification pages rather than inside the rating-system PDF itself.
Source: usgbc.org, Guide to LEED Certification (certification thresholds)Buildings are certified. People are accredited.
Certification levels apply to projects and buildings, never to people. A building is LEED certified (at Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum level). A person who passes a LEED professional exam is accredited or credentialed: a LEED Green Associate or a LEED AP. There is no such thing as a "LEED certified professional," and no building is "LEED accredited." The exam expects you to use these terms precisely, and getting them backwards in a cover letter is a quiet credibility cost in the industry itself.
Source: usgbc.org, LEED credentials and Guide to LEED Certification pagesThe institutional split follows the same line: the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) develops and maintains the LEED rating systems, while Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) administers both sides of the verification: it certifies projects and it runs the credentialing exams for people. If you are preparing for the Green Associate exam, the exam guide covers how GBCI structures and scores it.
How the 110 points are structured
Every LEED v5 rating system is built from the same two kinds of requirement, and the distinction matters more than any single figure:
Prerequisites: the floor
Mandatory for every project at every level and worth zero points. Miss a single prerequisite and the project cannot certify at all, not even at Certified level, regardless of points earned elsewhere.
Credits: the points
Optional achievements that carry the points. The credits across all categories sum to 110 possible points, and the total earned sets the certification level.
In LEED v5 BD+C, those credits sit in eight categories. Point totals differ slightly between New Construction (NC) and Core and Shell (CS), but both sum to 110:
| Category | Points (NC) | Points (CS) |
|---|---|---|
| Energy and Atmosphere | 33 | 27 |
| Materials and Resources | 18 | 21 |
| Location and Transportation | 15 | 15 |
| Indoor Environmental Quality | 13 | 11 |
| Sustainable Sites | 11 | 11 |
| Project Priorities | 10 | 10 |
| Water Efficiency | 9 | 8 |
| Integrative Process, Planning and Assessments | 1 | 7 |
| Total | 110 | 110 |
Energy and Atmosphere is by far the largest category: 33 of the 110 NC points, reflecting v5's decarbonization emphasis. Note also that Materials and Resources is one of the very few categories worth more for Core and Shell (21) than for New Construction (18). For a fuller account of how v5 reshaped the categories, see what changed in LEED v5.
The v5 Platinum rule: 80 points is no longer enough
To certify Platinum under LEED v5 BD+C, a project needs 80 or more points and minimum achievement levels in four decarbonization credits listed in Appendix I of the rating system:
| Code | Credit | Category |
|---|---|---|
| EAc1 | Electrification | Energy and Atmosphere |
| EAc3 | Enhanced Energy Efficiency | Energy and Atmosphere |
| EAc4 | Renewable Energy | Energy and Atmosphere |
| MRc2 | Reduce Embodied Carbon | Materials and Resources |
A v5 project cannot buy its way to Platinum on points from other categories while doing little on carbon. All four Appendix I items are decarbonization credits: three operational (electrification, efficiency, renewables) and one embodied (Reduce Embodied Carbon, whose requirements set a 20% embodied-carbon reduction minimum at Platinum level). Under earlier LEED versions, Platinum was a pure point threshold; explanations of the levels written before v5 typically stop at "80+ points" and miss this rule entirely.
Source: LEED v5 BD+C Rating System, February 2026 edition, Appendix I and credit requirements (EAc1, EAc3, EAc4, MRc2)The conceptual takeaway is bigger than the mechanics: v5 treats decarbonization as non-negotiable at the highest level of recognition. It already made carbon measurement mandatory for every project through prerequisites (an operational carbon projection in Energy and Atmosphere and an embodied-carbon assessment in Materials and Resources), and Appendix I extends that logic to the Platinum badge itself.
Why the levels matter on the Green Associate exam
For exam candidates, everything on this page is directly tested recall. The 40/50/60/80 thresholds, the prerequisite-versus-credit distinction, the 110-point total and the relative size of the categories are exactly the kind of structural facts the Green Associate exam asks about, across a 100-question, two-hour format. The exam's own weighting mirrors the rating system's priorities: Energy and Atmosphere and LEED Process are the two largest of the eight exam domains, at 15 scored questions each of the 85 that count.
Three habits keep these facts straight under exam pressure. Learn the thresholds as a sequence (40, 50, 60, 80) and remember the uneven jump to Platinum. Never let a question tempt you into awarding points for a prerequisite. And keep rating-system numbers (how buildings are scored) separate from exam-domain weights (how your test is scored): they describe different things and are never interchangeable. You can pressure-test all three habits against our free sample questions, work through the free LEED Process module or run a full timed mock exam.
Sources: usgbc.org, Guide to LEED Certification; LEED GA Candidate Handbook, June 2026 (usgbc.gitbook.io/leed-candidate-handbooks)Who runs certification and what it costs
Certification is a third-party review, not a self-declaration. A project team registers the project, documents its prerequisites and credits, then submits for review by GBCI, which verifies the documentation and awards the level. USGBC writes the standard; GBCI checks the work: the same separation of authorship and verification that gives the plaque its value.
Certification fees are paid per project and scale with factors such as project size, and they are revised from time to time, so this page deliberately does not quote figures. Check the current registration and certification fee schedule on usgbc.org before budgeting a project. (Exam fees for people are a separate, much smaller matter, covered in our Green Associate exam guide.)
Frequently asked questions
How many points do you need for LEED Gold?
LEED Gold requires 60 to 79 points out of the 110 available. At 80 points a project moves into Platinum territory, though under v5 Platinum also requires minimum achievement in the four Appendix I decarbonization credits.
What are the four LEED certification levels?
Certified (40–49 points), Silver (50–59), Gold (60–79) and Platinum (80 or more), all scored out of 110 possible points. Projects below 40 points are not certified at any level.
What is the difference between LEED certified and LEED accredited?
Buildings and projects are certified; people are accredited. A building earns LEED certification at one of four levels, while a person who passes a GBCI exam earns a credential such as LEED Green Associate or LEED AP. The terms are never interchangeable.
How many points is LEED Platinum under v5?
Platinum requires 80 or more of the 110 points and, new in v5 BD+C, minimum achievement levels in the Appendix I decarbonization credits: Electrification (EAc1), Enhanced Energy Efficiency (EAc3), Renewable Energy (EAc4) and Reduce Embodied Carbon (MRc2). Points alone no longer suffice.
Do LEED prerequisites earn points?
No. Prerequisites are mandatory for every project and are worth zero points. All points come from optional credits. A project that misses even one prerequisite cannot certify at any level, however many credit points it has earned.
Who awards LEED certification?
Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) reviews project documentation and awards certification. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) develops and maintains the LEED rating systems themselves, and GBCI also administers the professional credentialing exams.