Phoenix ranked No. 20 out of the 30 office markets analyzed for the green office study. Phoenix’s ranking slipped two spots from the previous year, and the square footage percentage of green space slipped from 30.4 percent to 29 percent.

Since Q4 2015, around 8.45 percent of Phoenix’s offices qualified with either an EPA ENERGY STAR label or USGBC LEED certification. Although the Green building across the country is continuing an upward trend during the past decade, green certifications are being held by only 11.8 percent of all surveyed buildings. The San Francisco market took the top spot, having 73.3 percent of its space qualified as green certified. Chicago market became second, closely trailing the leader at 72.3 percent and Minneapolis slipped from the top to the third spot with 60.6 percent.

Other markets such as Atlanta, Houston and Los Angeles also achieved more than 50 percent green certifications in their office markets. Taking a general overview on the results of the study, it clearly shows that while the uptake of green building practices within the 30 largest U.S cities remains being significant, the rate at which adoption is taking place is rather slowing. Consequently, in the year 2014, the total square feet of the green office space within the top 30 markets was 39.3 percent, while the latest rate is 40.2 percent.

This is an indication that only a section of the building stock can acquire a green or energy certification. Also, it is believed that some buildings could have previously been certified but did not renew their certification in 2015. Worked on with close collaboration with the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) and CBRE Research, this is the third release of the annual Green Building Adoption Index.