LEED Scorecard & Checklist Explained: Full v5 Guide

Every LEED project, from a small office fit-out to an airport terminal, is steered by a single page. That page lists every requirement the project must meet and every point it could earn, and project teams argue over it, color-code it, and pin it to the wall for years at a time. It is called the LEED scorecard, and knowing how to read it is the closest thing green building has to a superpower. This guide explains what the LEED scorecard is, the eight credit categories on it, the full LEED v5 point breakdown, how to read and use it, and how it differs from the LEED checklist.

What is the LEED scorecard?

The LEED scorecard is a one-page summary of a LEED rating system: every prerequisite, every credit, and the points each credit is worth, organized by credit category. Project teams use it to choose which credits to pursue, assign responsibility for each one, and track progress toward a certification level.

Think of the scorecard as the rating system compressed into a menu. The full LEED v5 reference guide runs to hundreds of pages, and no project team reads it cover to cover in a kickoff meeting. The scorecard strips all of that down to the essentials: the name of each requirement, whether it is mandatory, and how many points it can contribute. USGBC publishes the official LEED v5 project scorecards for each rating system, and its interactive scorecard tool lets you explore the credits online.

A scorecard exists for each rating system, because the requirements differ by project type. A new office tower uses the scorecard for Building Design and Construction (BD+C), an interior fit-out uses Interior Design and Construction (ID+C), and an existing building pursuing operational certification uses Operations and Maintenance (O+M). In this guide we will walk through the BD+C scorecard for New Construction, since it is the most widely used and the one the exams reference most. If LEED itself is new to you, our guide to what LEED stands for covers the fundamentals first.

What are the LEED credit categories on the scorecard?

The LEED v5 scorecard groups its prerequisites and credits into eight credit categories, and the point totals across all categories add up to 110. Each category addresses one dimension of a building's environmental and human performance.

Here is the complete category breakdown for BD+C New Construction:

Notice where the weight sits. Energy and Atmosphere alone carries 33 points, nearly a third of the total, which reflects how central energy and carbon performance are to LEED v5. Every credit is also tagged with one or more of v5's three impact areas (Decarbonization, Quality of Life, and Ecological Conservation and Restoration), which we explain in our overview of LEED v5 and what it introduces.

Exam tip: Memorize the eight v5 credit categories and their point totals, especially that Energy and Atmosphere is the largest at 33 points. Questions asking which category a strategy belongs to appear on every exam form. It is very important to know the categories cold for exam purposes.

Ready to earn your LEED credential?

Trusted by 200,000+ Learners

Pass the LEED Green Associate exam

LEED GA Exam Prep →LEED GA Exam Prep →

Pass the LEED Green Associate & LEED AP BD+C exams

LEED GA & AP Prep →LEED GA & AP Prep →

Pass the LEED AP BD+C exam

LEED AP Exam Prep →LEED AP BD+C Exam Prep →

The LEED v5 prerequisites on the scorecard

Prerequisites are the mandatory entries on the scorecard: every project must satisfy all of them to be eligible for any certification level, and they earn no points. On the scorecard they are listed with "Required" in place of a point value.

BD+C New Construction has 16 prerequisites, and they set the floor for every certified project:

The three assessments at the top of the list are a defining feature of v5: every project begins with a Climate Resilience Assessment, a Human Impact Assessment, and a Carbon Assessment before design decisions harden. We cover the difference between prerequisites and credits in depth in our guide to LEED prerequisites vs. credits.

The LEED v5 credits and points on the scorecard

Below the prerequisites, the scorecard lists 33 credits for BD+C New Construction, each carrying between 1 and 10 points, for a total of 110 available points. Credits are optional: a team pursues the ones that fit its project and skips the rest.

Rather than reproduce all 33 rows here, let's look at the highest-value credits, because they shape almost every project's strategy:

One number on this table deserves a pause: Project Priorities is worth 9 points, and it works differently from the others. Instead of one fixed requirement, it awards points for achievements that address the project's local and social priorities, which is how v5 rewards context instead of a one-size-fits-all list. The final credit in that category, LEED AP, adds 1 point simply for having a LEED Accredited Professional on the team, a point we will return to at the end.

And here is the distinction that trips up more people than any other. Projects are scored out of 100, but there are 110 points possible. The scorecard offers more points than the scale requires, so a project chasing Gold at 60 points can lose several target credits during construction and still cross the line. Experienced teams treat that headroom as their safety margin and always select more candidate credits than the target demands.

How do you read a LEED scorecard?

A working scorecard adds three columns to the credit list, usually labeled "Yes," "Maybe," and "No," and the team sorts every credit into one of them. The Yes column holds committed credits, Maybe holds candidates under evaluation, and No holds the credits the project will not pursue.

Reading one is quicker than it looks. Start at the top: the prerequisites are marked Required, and every one of them must sit, implicitly, in the Yes column, because there is no certification without them. Then scan the credit rows. The sum of the Yes column is the project's committed score, and the Yes plus Maybe total shows its realistic ceiling. If a team targets Silver at 50 points, you would expect to see roughly 55 or more points across Yes and strong Maybes, because some maybes always fall away as design and budget realities land.

The scorecard is also where responsibility gets assigned. Next to each pursued credit, teams typically note an owner: the civil engineer takes Rainwater Management, the mechanical engineer takes Enhanced Energy Efficiency, the contractor takes Construction and Demolition Waste Diversion. When the project registers on the Arc platform, that same tally becomes the live record that follows the project through documentation and review, and GBCI verifies each row of it at certification.

LEED scorecard vs. LEED checklist: is there a difference?

The LEED scorecard and the LEED checklist are the same document; the two names describe how it is being used. When a team uses the page early to test which credits are feasible, people tend to call it a checklist; once it tracks committed points through design and construction, it is the scorecard.

USGBC itself uses the terms interchangeably, so you will see both in official material, and neither name is wrong. What matters is the discipline behind the document, and that discipline has a rhythm. In predesign, the team walks through every line and asks whether the project can achieve it, which turns the page into a feasibility checklist. During design and construction, the same page is updated as credits are confirmed or dropped, which turns it into a running scorecard. At review, it becomes the summary of what the project actually earned. One page, three jobs, and the teams that keep it current at every stage rarely get surprised at certification.

How do certification levels appear on the scorecard?

The point total at the bottom of the scorecard maps to four certification levels: Certified at 40 to 49 points, Silver at 50 to 59, Gold at 60 to 79, and Platinum at 80 and above. Under LEED v5, the levels are not purely point-based, and this is where careless reading gets teams in trouble.

Every level first requires all 16 prerequisites, with no exceptions. On top of the points, v5 attaches gate requirements to Platinum: a BD+C project must also achieve the Electrification, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Reduce Embodied Carbon credits. In other words, a project cannot assemble 80 points while sidestepping the decarbonization core and still claim the top level. The scorecard makes this visible at a glance, which is one more reason teams keep it pinned to the wall: the path to each level, and its non-negotiables, are all on one page.

If you are preparing for a LEED exam rather than a project review, this page is your syllabus in miniature. The categories, the point scale, and the prerequisite logic are exactly what the exams test, and our best-selling LEED Green Associate Complete Exam Prep Pack walks through every category on the scorecard with the same patient, concept-first approach, backed by the Projectific Passing Guarantee. Learn to read this one page fluently, and both the exam and your first project meeting become far less mysterious.

Ready to earn your LEED credential?

Trusted by 200,000+ Learners

Pass the LEED Green Associate exam

LEED GA Exam Prep →LEED GA Exam Prep →

Pass the LEED Green Associate & LEED AP BD+C exams

LEED GA & AP Prep →LEED GA & AP Prep →

Pass the LEED AP BD+C exam

LEED AP Exam Prep →LEED AP BD+C Exam Prep →

Frequently Asked Questions