Sarasota County is proud to announce that it has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “Gold” certification and national accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council, an honor recognizing an array of sustainability efforts across the county. Unlike certification for individual buildings, this designation evaluated sustainability and resilience efforts across the entire county, measuring progress in land use, ecology, quality of life, energy, transportation, water resources, and other categories.  Sarasota County’s continuing growth in popularity has made the area a destination for many, while also highlighting the need to protect limited resources and foster sustainable, equitable communities that respond to change. The county has implemented numerous programs and initiatives toward those goals, from energy conservation projects to water quality programs. LEED, the world’s most widely used green building rating system, helps buildings, communities, cities, and counties by providing a road map toward high performance in key areas of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Sarasota County achieved Gold certification through the LEED Cities and Communities rating system for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions to improve community-wide sustainability and the residents' standard of living. The certification process, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit with a 30-year history of helping shape healthy, vital built environments, assigns points in nine categories: integrative process, natural systems and ecology, water efficiency, energy and greenhouse gas emissions, transportation and land use, materials and resources, quality of life, innovation, and regional priority. Sarasota County received 65 points out of 110 possible to earn LEED Gold certification, including scoring maximum points for demonstrating achievements in Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Performance (14/14), Resilience Planning (4/4), Transportation Performance (6/6), Quality of Life Performance (6/6), Natural Resources Conservation and Restoration (2/2), and more. With the LEED Gold certification, Sarasota County joins an elite but growing group—including the City of Sarasota, also recently honored—to be certified using the LEED for Cities and Communities rating system. Questions? Call 311 (941-861-5000 from outside Sarasota County) or email sarasota@ifas.ufl.edu.