LEED® Certified Stores

One of the best ways to reduce our impact on the planet is to design and build our stores in an environmentally responsible way. We do this by utilizing energy and water saving strategies and by choosing to use green building materials and construction methods.

We’re implementing green building strategies in our stores, and it is our goal that all of our new company-owned stores are built to be able to be LEED® Certified. Utilizing this independent third party certification allows us to track our progress against industry-wide baselines and continue to reduce our overall environmental footprint.

LEED Certified Stores Goals and Progress

Goal: Build all new, company-owned stores to achieve LEED® certification.

Progress: We have achieved LEED certification for 116 stores in 12 countries and we are addressing specific geographic challenges in our high growth markets.

To learn more about our work in LEED Certified stores read our Global Responsibility Goals & Progress Report.

Starbucks has been a leader for more than a decade in the development and implementation of a scalable green building program for retail companies like ours.

We joined the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2001 and collaborated with them to help develop the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Retail rating system, an effort that incorporated retail business strategies into the LEED for New Construction and Commercial Interiors rating systems.

We opened our first LEED-certified store in 2005. In 2009 Starbucks became one of the first retailers to join USGBC’s LEED Volume Certification pilot program.

As the first retail company to take this building approach globally, we’ve experienced success in some geographic areas and challenges in others. In 2012, we built 69 percent of our new global company-owned stores to achieve LEED, but had difficulty applying LEED in regions where the program is not as established. Going forward, we will explore additional strategies to bring 100% of our stores to a sustainable building standard.

What We're Doing Now

We have currently certified 154 stores in 17 countries. 5 of our stores are in Thailand, including Porto Chino which is the first LEED Gold store for Starbucks in all of Asia. This store includes the use of recycled coffee grounds in table tops, low emitting materials for adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings and flooring, over 10% of materials extracted within 500 miles and over 45% lighting power savings through the use of efficient LED fixtures.

What We'll Do Next

We currently have 20 stores pending certification which will bring us to a total of 174 stores with plans to continue submitting stores for LEED certification each month.  At the same time, we are actively working to effectively adapt green building strategies in a variety of geographical regions.

• Responsibility .
  • Environment .
    • Building Greener Stores .
      • LEED® Certified Stores