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comes from local or regional hazard mitigation plans, and it assesses the likelihood of a hazard occurring. Teams must provide a risk rating for each identified hazard.

Project teams must assess the project’s susceptibility to each hazard and consider multiple factors, including exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, vulnerability, and overall risk levels. Exposure refers to the degree to which the project is vulnerable to hazards, such as its proximity to water bodies or seismic zones. Sensitivity indicates how significantly these hazards may affect the project, based on factors like materials, structural design, and infrastructure. Adaptive capacity is the project’s ability to adapt, withstand, or recover from the impacts of hazards through resilient design, contingency planning, or technology. A project with backup generators and multiple water supply systems has a higher adaptive capacity compared to one without.

Vulnerability reflects the project’s overall susceptibility, considering both its sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The overall risk level is a combined assessment of hazard severity, exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability, categorized as low, medium, or high.

Teams must assess the potential impacts of each hazard on the project. Project hazards can disrupt essential services, damage structures, cause long-term operational challenges, and impact project operations. In the operations phase, the assessment must consider how these hazards affect facility management, occupant safety, and service continuity. This includes potential disruptions to building systems, energy and water supply, indoor air quality, emergency preparedness, workforce safety, and the long-term performance of structural and mechanical components. Hazards may also affect maintenance schedules, operational costs, and the ability to provide critical services during extreme weather events.

Integration into project planning and design As part of the climate resilience assessment, use the findings from the hazard assessment to guide the project’s planning, design, operations, and maintenance phases. For instance, in the planning and design phase, teams can select less vulnerable areas on site and implement resilient site design strategies such as elevated foundations. The team must describe how the climate resilience assessment shaped design strategies, particularly to mitigate priority hazards, while also demonstrating alignment with specific LEED credits.

For example, if flooding is identified as a priority hazard, strategies could involve raising a building’s foundation, using permeable paving, or incorporating drought-resistant landscape features, which also support LEED credits such as SSc3: Rainwater Management and SSc4: Enhanced Resilient Site Design .

U.S. Green Building Council LEED v5 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction, April 2025 Launch Edition 24