Report: METROPOLIS Weighs in on Sustainable Design in the U.S.

At METROPOLIS, we believe architecture and design are among the most powerful tools we have for shaping culture, improving lives, and responding to the urgent challenges of our time. That belief guides our reporting, our convenings, and—now—our first-ever U.S. Sustainable Design Report.

Produced in partnership with Interface, the METROPOLIS Interface U.S. Sustainable Design Report 2026 offers a balanced picture of sustainability in the U.S. built environment at the end of 2025. Drawing on reports, research, and guidelines issued by A&D organizations over 2024–25, it benchmarks the state of sustainable architecture, defines large-scale challenges to progress, and highlights emerging perspectives and knowledge shaping the field.

01 BESPOKE GOALS, TAILORED APPROACHES 

Building certifications motivate a very small slice of the U.S. built environment, but the goals and approaches to sustainable design have diversified and proliferated. Less than 3% of U.S. buildings’ square footage is formally certified under any sustainability standard—not because action isn’t happening, but because responsibility for sustainability is spread across many frameworks. When asked which sustainability frameworks they rely on most, many A&D professionals say they primarily rely on internal firm standards (39%), project-specific goals (34%), or clients’ internal guidelines (28%). Progress is real, but with overlapping systems and decentralized data, it is difficult to measure how far we’ve come through certifications alone.

02 WE’RE DOING GOOD, FOR NOW

Even amid infrastructure constraints, projects are meeting new milestones—but only up to the limits of current approaches. Across energy, water, and resilience, coordinated, systems-based strategies are delivering near-term gains, even where frameworks lag behind ambition. “It’s my opinion that at least 80 percent of building stock in New York City can meet 2030 [requirements] without any major electrification projects,” Goldman Copeland Associates’ Tristan Schwarzmann told Engineering News-Record last year. As those thresholds are reached, however, further progress will depend on continued ingenuity, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and a readiness to confront new challenges as they emerge.

03 DON’T PREACH TO THE CHOIR

Architects and designers already have a strong desire to embed sustainability in everyday practice, and most possess the foundational knowledge and awareness to do so effectively. Two-thirds of designers report that sustainability shapes their projects and that they feel confident applying its principles, signaling a major cultural shift from niche to norm. Yet persistent obstacles—budgets, limited client interest, and competing project priorities—create a gap between intention and execution. According to practitioners, better client education, lower-cost premiums for sustainable materials, and expanded product options could help close this gap.

04 PICK AN OPTION FASTER

The biggest breakthrough in sustainable architecture may not be a new material or system but a new way of deciding. Real-time data, AI, and integrated modeling are compressing timelines and collapsing complexity, giving architects and planners the ability to make informed, climate-smart decisions at the earliest design moments. “Critical decisions are often made in days, while conventional environmental simulations can take weeks… By integrating simulation into CAD, BIM, and GIS workflows, Infrared.city allows teams to test dozens of scenarios early, when form, orientation, and massing decisions still matter,” says Theodoros Galanos, chief science officer, Infrared.city. Tools like this are helping to transform sustainability from a retrospective check into a forward-looking design driver.

05 SPECIFY IMPACT, NOT ECO-LABELS

Sustainability leaders are moving away from one-off product decisions toward systems-based specification—defining flexible frameworks to make sustainable choices easier to apply at scale. LEED v5’s move to five impact categories builds on the AIA Materials Pledge and mindful MATERIALS’ Common Materials Framework to provide a more standardized way to evaluate products. Class-based chemical avoidance follows a similar logic: Rather than tracking individual compounds, treating PFAS as a group can “help you to future-proof your decisions.” Alongside these approaches, broader shifts toward flexible, less absolutist frameworks—like “basic, better, best”—are helping teams reduce complexity, navigate trade-offs, and focus on meaningful impact.