First conceived in 2010, Site Selection’s Sustainability Rankings reveal the countries, U.S. states and U.S. metros cultivating the most fertile environment for a sustainable economy.

Derived from a unique index incorporating everything from green building square footage per capita to manufacturing of renewable energy products and degree of corporate social responsibility among area employers, the rankings offer a metric for assessing which locations are pointed toward a green and balanced future. Unlike many green yardsticks, our index incorporates the “dirty” side of green industry too: We don’t just track where solar and wind energy are being produced, for example, but also where the solar panels and modules, wind turbines and nacelles are being fabricated, assembled and shipped out.

This year, in addition to data from our project partners at CSRHub, the rankings welcome back into the index the global building data insights of Measurabl, the San Diego–based ESG platform for commercial real estate that recently raised $93 million in its Series D funding round and whose global portfolio of customers is growing by leaps and bounds: The company now employs more than 200 people and tracks building-level ESG data on more than 15 billion sq. ft. of real estate across more than 90 countries. We also welcome into the index for the first time the global data and analysis of the Center for Active Design, which oversees the Fitwel healthy building certification standard that to date has 1.2 billion sq. ft. registered on the platform, impacting more than 2.6 million people.

“Our data, and the subsequent Site Selection global ratings, align snugly with conventional rankings of the most sustainable and ‘green’ countries,” says Chad Boyle, analytics engineer at Measurabl. “While the United States places uncharacteristically high in your rankings, possibly due to a preponderance of quality data from climate-minded customers, it is unsurprising (and validating) to see top placements scooped up by places like Sweden, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, and others who are often regarded as leading the charge in sustainable real estate.”