ATLANTA—Green is still red hot—and Atlanta is greener than most. Institutional owners of office buildings continued striving for green building certifications in the 30 largest US markets during 2015.

Green certifications have gained momentum over the past decade. Today, 11.% of all office building surveyed in CBRE's study have green certifications. That represents 39.6% of all office space, according to the third annual Green Building Adoption Index study by CBRE Group, Inc. and Maastricht University. According to CBRE, both figures are slightly above last year's results.

“While the rate of growth in 'green' buildings has slowed modestly, our latest study underscores that in most major markets, sustainable office space has become the 'new normal,'” says David Pogue, CBRE's Global Director of Corporate Responsibility. Green office buildings in the US are defined as those that hold either an EPA ENERGY STAR label, USGBC LEED certification or both.

After placing second on the Green Building Adoption Index the two prior years, the San Francisco market claimed the top spot with 73.7% of its office space qualified as green certified. Chicago again claimed the second spot, narrowly trailing the leader at 72.3% and Minneapolis fell from the top into third spot at 60.6%. Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles all also achieved more than 50% green certification in their office markets.

“One of the top priorities in creating non-commodity space is providing a healthy environment,” Marie Kastens, associate Director of Asset Services at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “Building design trends are integrating with wellness initiatives. In addition to working toward sustainable practices, studies prove that a healthy work environment suggests increases in productivity. Atlanta has done a phenomenal job of paying attention to the environmental concerns of the masses and incorporating measures to achieve healthy spaces during working hours.”

The overall results of the study do show that the while the uptake of green building practices in the 30 largest US cities continues to be significant, adoption is slowing. In 2014 the total square feet of green office space in the top 30 markets was 39.3% compared to the latest rate of 39.6%.

“This likely reflects the fact that only a certain fraction of the building stock can obtain a green or energy-efficiency certification,” says Dr. Nils Kok, associate professor in Finance and Real Estate, Maastricht University. “Additionally, we believe that some buildings that were previously certified did not renew their certification in 2015. This does not necessarily mean that the energy use of these buildings has changed, but that some owners and managers may choose not to spend the time or expense to reapply for certification every year.”

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