Green Building Incentive Policy
On December 13, 2025, the Arlington County Board adopted the amendment to the County’s Green Building Incentive Policy for Site Plans to evaluate special exception site plan requests for bonus density under the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance section 15.5.9.C.
For more information regarding the adopted policy, please reference the following links listed below.
County Board Report GBIP - December 2025(PDF, 250KB)
Attachment 1 GBIP - December 2025(PDF, 171KB)
Originally adopted in 1999 as a pilot program, the Green Building Incentive Policy (GBIP) has served as the primary mechanism for encouraging the private sector to reduce energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions in new site plan construction. Since its original adoption, the policy has been updated in 2003, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2020.
Building on this evolution, the most recent update to the GBIP was adopted on December 13, 2025, incorporating updated priorities and best practices related to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction.
The adopted changes to the Policy are intended to incentivize (a) exceptional energy efficient design and construction, (b) efficient post-occupancy energy performance and (c) continued focus on holistically designed and constructed buildings.
Key updates to the Green Building Incentive Policy are:
- Ensuring participating developments are built to a more recent and stringent standard than the building code;
- Incorporating a higher level of energy optimization and building performance scoring;
- Prioritizing energy efficiency and carbon reduction actions within the Baseline Prerequisites and Extra List Items; and
- Offering additive incentives to encourage site plan developments in Arlington to achieve higher levels of building performance.
Effective Date: The policy became effective immediately upon adoption on December 13, 2025. Site plan project applications submitted to the County Manager before March 31, 2026, may continue to use the 2020 version of the Green Building Incentive Policy. Site plan project applications submitted on or after March 31, 2026, must use the updated policy and associated criteria.
For information regarding the 2020 Green Building Incentive Policy, please refer to the Arlington County Board Report. Projects that continue to use this version until its sunset date of March 31, 2026, remain subject to the Automatic Energy Update criteria, which took effect on June 30, 2023.
Upcoming Website Updates: There will be updates made to this website in the coming months to reflect the 2025 Green Building Incentive Policy, including revised permit submission guidelines, process and guidance and additional information regarding the pilot programs for Passive House International U.S. (PHIUS) and Existing Buildings, which are contingent upon budget approval. Please stay tuned and check back in the new year for updated materials and guidance.
Process and Guidance
Residential projects that earn bonus density in exchange for ENERGY STAR certification with a score of 75 do so using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The ENERGY STAR score is based on post-occupancy energy utility data. This is not certification through the ENERGY STAR Multifamily High Rise Program (New Construction).
Update for Multifamily Developments Requesting Green Building Bonus Density
Multifamily developments may now use either the LEED for Homes Multifamily or EarthCraft Virginia green building rating systems. See the full interpretation here.