JOCO attains LEED Gold certification for sustainability and resilience achievements

InHealthy and Resilient Homes and Buildings, NewsByJoe Gauer

Johnson County, Kansas announced today that it has achieved LEED Gold certification. Johnson County is part of a growing group to be certified using the LEED for Cities rating system, and is just the 25th local government in the world to achieve this latest version of community certification.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and is the world’s most widely used green building rating system.

“We are proud of the work we are doing here in Johnson County and proud of our accomplishment of LEED Gold certification,” said Ed Eilert chairman of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners. “Johnson County is committed to setting the standard for our community and everyone who calls Johnson County home.”

Johnson County achieved LEED certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at improving sustainability and the standard of living for residents.

LEED is designed to help buildings, communities and cities achieve high performance in the critical areas of human and environmental health.

As a LEED-Certified County, the County is committed to:

Submitting greenhouse gas emissions based on energy consumption and other sources, enabling them to track and report progress toward emissions targets and climate action goals. In addition, they’ll be positioned to communicate their sustainability performance and goals in a consistent format that is used around the world.
Improving Johnson County sustainability performance over time by adopting policies that help reduce energy, water, waste, pollution and CO2 at the county scale, and in turn, improve air and water quality for residents.