Green building construction has been considered to be an essential practice for achieving sustainability. To achieve sustainable development, greater attention has been paid to environmental, social and economic impacts associated with the construction and operation of buildings. Hence, the importance of a more integrated approach to green building design with cost effectiveness has gained momentum. The present study focuses on developing appropriate constructs to benchmark green building attributes in construction such that, with limited funds, the sustainable performance of the building is improved. In this study, Indian green building assessment tools, such as Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), eco-housing, and a newly developed rating system, are reviewed. A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been employed to benchmark the green building attributes. Buildings in different climatic conditions, such as hot and dry, warm and humid, and composite climates, were chosen for benchmarking purposes. Efficiency was calculated using a constant return to scale with an input-oriented Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes (CCR) formulation method. The following attributes were observed: (1) utilization of the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) recommended waste materials in the building, (2) increase in environmental awareness, (3) dedicated facilities for service staff, (4) design for universal accessibility, (5), low-impact design (6) construction management practices and (7) use of low-volatile organic compounds (VOC) paints that contribute to more green points at a lower cost. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.