In recognition of its sustainability achievements, the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) has earned its second Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, making it one of only two convention centers in the country to be certified Gold twice in a row.
LEED is a globally recognized building rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, green buildings based on standards for energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, and waste reduction.
After earning its first LEED certification in 2022, a big milestone for its sustainability program, the NOENMCC continued to innovate, optimize, and increase its efforts to reduce the facility’s environmental footprint. The convention center expanded its recycling programs—diverting 378.4 tons of waste from landfills in 2024—and reduced energy use by 11% and water use by 16% since 2019 following major equipment and lighting upgrades and other improvements.
“Being recertified as a LEED Gold facility is confirmation that all the energy-saving investments, building upgrades, and green initiatives we’ve implemented are making a difference,” said Chief Operating Officer Adam J. Straight. “I am grateful to everyone on our team for the collective effort that’s helping us meet our sustainability goals. Because this is not about getting another green feather in our cap; it’s about working to be a good steward of the environment and making our facility better for our guests, employees, and neighbors.”
As the largest LEED-certified facility in Louisiana, the convention center is being recognized as a leader in sustainability across the region. In April 2025, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality presented the NOENMCC with an Environmental Leadership Program Award.
“The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s efforts to operate more efficiently are not just impressive—they’re helping us compete,” said Walt Leger, president and CEO of New Orleans & Company. “Sustainability has become a key factor for today’s meeting planners, and our sales team is proud to showcase the convention center as a modern, energy-efficient facility that lives up to our promise: New Orleans is Built to Host.”
What convention center visitors enjoying interior improvements—including upgraded restrooms and 87 water bottle filling stations—might not notice is the massive exterior upgrade right over their heads. In 2024, the NOENMCC completed the installation of a new 40-acre “cool roof” with a special foam insulation and coating that creates a reflective sheen to divert heat away from the building, which reduces the urban heat island effect in the neighborhood and yields a small energy savings for the building. Rock ballast from the previous roof was repurposed for use in parking lots, one example of the convention center’s efforts to prevent construction waste from being sent to landfills.
During a 2023 interior renovation project, old carpet and ceiling tiles were sent to special facilities, where they were used to make new products, surpassing the NOENMCC’s goal of 50% waste diversion by diverting 84% of the waste produced during the project’s first stage.
Improving waste diversion for events was also instrumental in the LEED recertification. In addition to completing a major waste audit during a 2024 convention, the NOENMCC upgraded its “Know Where to Throw” color-coded dock system to simplify the process of recycling cardboard, Visqueen, scrap metal, and wood after events. Convention center teams also collected nearly three tons of Mardi Gras beads, throws, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans to be recycled after the 2024 Carnival season events at the facility.
“LEED certification is the industry standard for showing that our work is effective,” said the Linda Baynham, the convention center’s director of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, who spearheaded the recertification process. “Clients appreciate holding events in a facility that’s doing its part to reduce impacts. As a leader in the event industry, we want to show what’s possible when you make sustainability a priority.”
The convention center contracted New Orleans-based Green Coast Enterprises to set up a utility tracking program to monitor its energy and water use. Awarded based in part on a year’s worth of data tracking energy, water, and waste, the facility’s 2025 recertification is confirmation that the NOENMCC has stayed on track with those metrics since its initial LEED Gold certification in 2022.
According to the NOENMCC, it is the largest convention center project in the U.S. certified under LEED v4.1 Operations and Maintenance and the first convention center in the world to be awarded initial certification under LEED v4.1 O+M.