LEED® v5 – The New Framework for Healthy Interiors
For decades, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program has served as the benchmark for advancing sustainable building practices worldwide, inspiring architects, engineers, and owners to create healthier, more efficient spaces. Launched earlier this year, LEED® v5 represents the latest update to the renowned green building rating system that the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has upheld for over 25 years. Just announced at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, LEED v5 is now open for building owners to register their Building Design and Construction (BD+C), Interior Design and Construction (ID+C), and Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M) projects.
Drawing from the comprehensive guidance detailed by the USGBC, this blog explores the new LEED v5 framework requirements targeting indoor air quality (IAQ) and other criteria supporting the decarbonization of the building sector. We’re focused specifically on helping you understand impact areas, credit categories, new requirements for IAQ — particularly furniture and building materials — along with the two primary pathways designed to contribute to LEED credits under the new v5.
LEED v5: What’s New and Why It Matters
LEED v5 represents a significant leap forward in green building standards, introducing innovative frameworks and more rigorous criteria compared to previous versions. LEED v5 builds on the 2019 LEED v4.1, emphasizing three main impact areas — decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration. LEED v5 elevates the importance of IAQ through stricter testing and compliance pathways, ensuring that spaces are safer and more comfortable for occupants.
Consistent with prior editions, LEED v5 incorporates a Low-Emitting Materials section (MRc3), which is intended to mitigate the impact of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and chemical contaminants on indoor air quality. VOC emissions, particularly formaldehyde, significantly influence overall indoor environmental quality. The specification and use of low VOC-emitting products support compliance with LEED's air quality testing and monitoring standards. LEED v5 also addresses energy efficiency, water conservation, and multiple other sustainability considerations.
Additionally, LEED v5 includes a heightened focus on life cycle assessment (LCA), encouraging the use of materials and products that minimize environmental impact throughout their life span. These enhancements not only protect human health and well-being but also set new industry expectations for responsible design and construction, reinforcing LEED’s role as the global standard for high-performance, wellness-centered buildings.
Focus on Impact Areas
More than anything, LEED v5 is designed to drive the building sector towards a near-zero carbon future that is healthy, resilient, and promotes the wise, safe use of all resources. V5 is organized around three broad impact areas: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration, all of which support this larger goal of transforming the green building sector.
In terms of ID+C under v5, indoor environmental quality (EQ) is one of eight primary aspects of sustainable design and construction that serve as the framework giving strength to LEED v5:
- Materials and resources (MR)
- Indoor environmental quality
- Energy and atmosphere
- Water efficiency
- Construction and waste management
- Decarbonization
- Quality of life
- Ecological conservation
These eight aspects of sustainable design act as guiding principles and are embedded into the rating systems, helping project teams understand a building’s impact from a more holistic perspective.
MR Credit: Low-Emitting Materials (MRc3)
Within the LEED v5 framework, the purpose of the materials and resources (MR) credit, and specifically the “Low-Emitting Materials” (MRc3) credit, is to enhance indoor environmental quality (EQ) by reducing chemical contaminants, thereby protecting human health and promoting comfort. MRc3 pertains specifically to the impact area of EQ, which emphasizes strategies such as air quality, air thermal comfort, daylight and views, acoustics, and incorporating holistic design considerations such as accessibility, adaptability, and responsiveness.
MRc3 helps safeguard the health and comfort of both people living and working within the buildings and those hired to install the materials. The MRc3 credit — worth up to 4 points in a building’s overall assessment out of a total possible 110 — applies to a wide range of permanent products, including paints, coatings, adhesives, sealants, flooring, walls, ceilings, insulation, furniture, and composite wood, while explicitly excluding structural components, HVAC systems, plumbing, electrical equipment, and poured concrete.
By setting clear percentage thresholds for compliant product categories, the MR credit incentivizes build teams to select materials that meet rigorous low-emitting criteria — awarding points based on the proportion of products that comply, as detailed in Table 1 of the LEED v5. This results-driven approach drives healthier building environments and advances the overall mission of sustainable design.
Two Pathways to LEED Credits for Low-Emitting Materials
Requirements for improved indoor air quality and low-emitting materials under LEED v5 focus particularly on how products like furniture and interior materials (especially in offices) are tested and certified to limit harmful chemical emissions, such as VOCs. LEED v5 offers two different testing and compliance options to show that the products a building project uses meet LEED’s indoor environmental quality criteria. Below, we walk through each pathway in more detail.
Pathway 1: California Department of Public Health (CDPH) CA 01350 Private Office Compliance
The first pathway is known as CDPH Standard Method v1.2-2017, often called CA 01350, which is a widely recognized and globally utilized California standard for testing chemical emissions from building products, such as furniture, paint, and flooring, among others. Pathway 1 evaluates the emissions from certain harmful chemicals (like formaldehyde) released from a product into indoor air over time.
Pathway 1 prioritizes the more stringent requirements for indoor air quality known as “private office.” This designation refers to a specific modeling scenario wherein the testing assumes the product is used in a small office, which has lower ventilation and higher exposure potential. Products certified to SCS Indoor Advantage Gold™ that are tested and deemed compliant with the private office scenario, for example, are eligible to contribute under Pathway 1. This pathway also includes options for qualifying lab reports, inherently non-emitting, salvaged, or reused products.
Pathway 2: ANSI/BIFMA M7.1 and ANSI/BIFMA e3-2024 Compliance
The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) sets standards for office furniture. ANSI/BIFMA M7.1 is a method for measuring chemical emissions from furniture, while ANSI/BIFMA e3-2024 is a broader sustainability standard for furniture (called the LEVEL standard) and includes criteria for indoor air quality, among other considerations like materials and energy use.
Under Pathway 2, products tested according to ANSI/BIFMA Standard Method M7.1-2011 (R2021) must be compliant specifically with ANSI/BIFMA e3-2014 or e3-2024 Furniture Sustainability Standard, Section 7.6.2. Statements of product compliance must specify exposure scenario(s) — for example, “seating products must be evaluated using the seating scenario,” explains V5. Likewise, furniture must meet emissions evaluation criteria via third-party certification, and seating and classroom furniture require scenario-specific evaluations. Just as in Pathway 1, inherently non-emitting, salvaged, or reused furniture may also qualify.
To earn LEED credits for indoor air quality related to low-emitting furniture and materials, projects must choose one of these two pathways. Choosing the right path depends on what standards your suppliers follow and what’s easier to document and certify for your project.
Another way to think about these two pathways is to see Pathway 1 as meeting the CDPH private office criteria, while Pathway 2 is all about being tested to M7.1 and meeting the 7.6.2 criteria for the relevant modeling scenario in the BIFMA e3-2024 Standard. Essentially, for IAQ, this means if a product has earned SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certification for building products or furniture, then it meets the criteria to contribute to LEED.
Looking More Closely at Low-Emitting Materials MRc3 and Furniture
LEED v5’s Table 1 (ID+C version) shows the mapping from product and material performance to points awarded. These points contribute to the total points for the project, determining the various levels (Silver, Gold, etc.) of LEED certification. In examining Table 1 as it relates to products that meet MRc3 requirements, we see that a project with greater than 90% compliance in any two categories will earn one point; the same level of compliance across four categories earns two points. Six categories with greater than 80% compliance earn three points, and eight or more categories get four points. Of particular note under Table 1 is the furniture detail. The following sections unpack some important changes regarding furniture under v5.
Interpreting the Furniture Category under LEED v5
Under LEED v4 and v4.1, third-party certifications such as Indoor Advantage Gold were frequently required or preferred to validate furniture emissions. V4 did permit, however, first-party or manufacturer claims in certain cases, provided that supporting test reports or laboratory analyses met established standards.
In contrast, LEED v5 assigns an even greater emphasis to third-party certification. Products must now possess "qualifying third-party certification, valid at the time of product purchase," from a USGBC-approved certifier specifically for furniture emissions evaluation. Furthermore, laboratories conducting these tests must be accredited (e.g., ISO/IEC 17025), and the relevant exposure scenario must be disclosed. For custom furniture, either the full piece or its components must be declared or tested accordingly.
For a project to earn LEED v5 MRc3 credit, furniture included within the project’s scope —whether measured by cost, area, or number of units — must comply with either the furniture emissions evaluation criteria or the VOC emissions evaluation criteria.
The furniture product category encompasses a broad range of items: permanently installed office furnishings, systems furniture and cubicles, seating, desks, tables, storage and filing units, specialty pieces, beds, casegoods, casework, countertops, movable and demountable partitions, bathroom and toilet partitions, shelving, lockers, retail fixtures (including slatwall), window coverings, and other furnishing elements such as nonfixed area rugs, cubicle curtains, and mattresses purchased for the project.
Custom furniture can demonstrate compliance in one of two ways: either all components of the finished piece (applied on- or off-site) are declared and meet the VOC emissions criteria under the furniture category, or the complete custom item itself is tested and meets the required furniture emissions or VOC emissions standards.
There are some exclusions, however. Office and bathroom accessories, artworks, recreational items like game tables, cabinet and drawer hardware, and planters do not count toward this credit and should be left out of your calculations.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Indoor Air Quality under LEED v5
The role of life cycle assessment (LCA) is expanding in LEED v5 and even beginning to overlap more directly with areas like indoor air quality (IAQ), which historically were treated separately. As a method to evaluate a product or building's environmental impacts across its entire life — from raw material extraction, to manufacturing, to use, and finally disposal — LCA under LEED v5 plays a revised role in the assessment of indoor air quality.
In LEED v4.1 and earlier, LCA was primarily part of the MR credit category, and IAQ was categorized as Indoor Environmental Quality — meaning, these two designations did not have much interaction.
Under LEED v5, though, there’s greater integration between LCA and the health impacts considered through the lens of IAQ: LEED v5 recognizes that environmental performance and human health are connected. For example, materials that perform well in an LCA (low carbon footprint, low resource use) might still emit harmful chemicals, so LEED v5 asks projects to balance both environmental and health-related impacts. In other words, low environmental impact does not mean low health risk; LEED v5 encourages the consideration of both environmental and health-related impacts of the project.
And while building products and furniture don't need an LCA, environmental product declaration (EPD), or health product declaration (HPD) to contribute to LEED credits — the credits are earned independently — low-emitting materials was moved to Material Resources for better harmonization and simplification. Broadly, LEED v5 brings in the role of LCA to improve the assessment of IAQ. By encouraging the use of products that have both low environmental and low human health impacts, integrating health indicators into some LCA tools and EPDs, and pushing projects to make more balanced, health-conscious material choices, LEED v5 ensures that ecologically sustainable buildings include protecting the people who live and work there.
LEED v5 reaches beyond the previous version to focus on building sector decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation through building innovation. With these transformative goals in mind, each contributor to the built environmental value chain has a role to play.
Planning Ahead
SCS Global Services is here to support your organization as you integrate the changes in LEED v5 and manage compliance with all relevant requirements. In addition to scheduling a call with us at your convenience, we recommend studying all the supporting resources about LEED v5 provided by the USGBC. Our teams can walk you through these materials and help you interpret them to maximize opportunity, manage build plans, and achieve compliance.