Choosing the Right Green Materials for Your Commercial Building Selecting the best green materials is more than a sustainability checkbox—it’s about lowering long-term costs, enhancing tenant well-being, and ensuring compliance with ESG regulations.

Defining Green Building Materials

Green building materials are those that have a lower environmental impact throughout their lifecycle, from production and installation to long-term maintenance. The U.S. Green Building Council defines these as environmentally preferable products under its LEED certification program.

Green building materials are eco-friendly alternatives with lower environmental impact in production, installation, and maintenance. They improve energy efficiency, reduce waste, and support sustainable building practices.

What Makes a Building Material Sustainable?

The sustainability of building materials is measured by factors such as:

  • Energy-efficient production: Reducing energy consumption during manufacturing.
  • Resource renewability: Sourcing materials that regenerate quickly, such as bamboo.
  • End-of-life recyclability: Ensuring materials can be reused or safely decomposed.
  • Extended producer responsibility: Encouraging manufacturers to take back and recycle their products.
  • Locally sourced: Reduces transportation emissions.
  • Recycled or reclaimed: Lowers demand for virgin materials.
  • Energy-efficient production: Minimizes carbon footprint.
  • Durable & low-maintenance: Extends lifecycle and reduces costs.

Certified options: FSC-certified wood, LEED-approved products.Green Building Materials List 2025

Traditional Material Green Replacement
Concrete

Bendable concrete, Precast concrete, 3D printed concrete, Ferrock, Rammed earth
Steel Mass timber, Reclaimed steel, Bamboo
Wood Bamboo, Recycled plastic, Mass timber, Reclaimed wood
Insulation Straw bale, Cellulose fiber, Sheep wool
Flooring Terrazzo, Reclaimed wood, Cork
Other Materials Hempcrete, Mycelium, Earth bags, Cob, Timbercrete, Recycled glass, Polyurethane
Concrete Bendable concrete, Precast concrete, 3D printed concrete, Ferrock
Steel Mass timber, Reclaimed steel, Bamboo
Wood Bamboo, Recycled plastic, Mass timber, Reclaimed wood
Insulation Straw bale, Cellulose fiber
Flooring Terrazzo, Reclaimed wood

 

Key Green Building Materials and Their Benefits

  • Bendable Concrete (ECC): Highly flexible and 500x more crack-resistant, reducing maintenance costs and increasing longevity.
  • Mass Timber: A renewable alternative to steel and concrete, reducing carbon footprint by 26.5%.
  • Recycled Plastic: Converts waste into durable construction materials, reducing landfill dependency.
  • Straw Bale Insulation: High insulation value and sustainable, lowering energy costs significantly.
  • Terrazzo Flooring: Made from recycled glass and marble, offering durability and aesthetic appeal.

Lessons from Successful Green Buildings

Green buildings that exemplify the best use of sustainable materials include:

  1. The Bullitt Center (Seattle): LEED Platinum-certified, 100% solar-powered.
  2. Pixel Building (Melbourne): Australia’s first carbon-neutral office.
  3. Shanghai Tower: 40% locally sourced materials, integrated wind turbines.

How Green Materials Improve Business and Sustainability

Integrating sustainable materials benefits businesses by:

  • Higher ROI: LEED-certified buildings command up to 31% higher rental premiums (CBRE study).
  • Tenant Demand: 81% of tenants prefer eco-friendly buildings (Nielsen study).
  • Compliance & ESG: Future-proofs assets against stricter environmental regulations.

Using ProptechOS to Ensure ESG and CSRD Compliance

While selecting sustainable materials is important, ensuring ongoing ESG and CSRD compliance can be complex. ProptechOS simplifies the process by centralizing sustainability data and streamlining reporting for evolving regulatory standards.

Choosing the right green materials is just one part of creating a sustainable commercial property. But how do you measure the real impact of these choices?

ProptechOS helps commercial real estate managers maintain ESG and CSRD compliance by automating sustainability data tracking, integrating with key performance metrics, and ensuring reporting aligns with regulatory requirements. By integrating your building’s data with ProptechOS, you can:

  • Automate sustainability reporting to meet ESG and CSRD requirements.
  • Reduce operational costs with data-driven insights.
  • Ensure transparency and readiness for evolving compliance regulations.

Get Started with ProptechOS Today: Simplify ESG and CSRD compliance, automate sustainability tracking, and ensure your commercial property meets future regulations with ease.

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Per Karlberg

Per Karlberg, a distinguished technology executive, demonstrates deep expertise in the nexus of real estate, technology, and ESG. Holding advanced degrees from Lund University, and with key roles as CEO of our company and Co-Founder of ProptechOS, he has shaped the proptech field through significant contributions to real estate technology advancements. His instrumental work in co-authoring “The realestatecore ontology” has facilitated digital transformation and ESG breakthroughs in the real estate sector.

Read his full bio and information here.