What I find interesting about the LEED standards is that they're not regulated. No one is being forced to comply with LEED standards.
It's a voluntary standard. It's kind of like Energy Star. When people buy a refrigerator, they are buying into something that they want to feel proud of.
Buildings are using it as part of their branding, frankly. They want to be known in the community as a LEED standard. So it incorporates all kinds of motivations beyond just whatever cost savings over the lifetime of the building might be accrued.