The United Arab Emirates ranks as the top country for green building in the Middle East, and among the top ten internationally, according to a 2015 ranking by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program that recognises best-in-class building strategies and practices. To receive LEED certification, building projects must satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of certification.

Over the last 12 months the UAE increased its total amount of LEED-certified space by 72%, moving from ninth place globally in 2014 to eighth in 2015, the USGBC said.

“This new achievement is a fruit of the long-term national initiative launched by Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2012 to build a green economy in the UAE under the slogan, ‘Green Economy for Sustainable Development’,” Abdullah Al Muaini, Director-General of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology, told the state news agency WAM.

The USGBC noted that countries outside the U.S. are making “significant strides in sustainable building design, construction and transformation”.