Research on the status of green buildings, their drivers and barriers have received significant attention, however little has been done to develop an integrated strategy that will lead to the development of green buildings. The present study is a conscious effort in that direction. On the basis of exhaustive literature review a 'Green Building Sustainability Model' has been developed and structural equation modelling is employed to verify the research framework. The study clearly state that the intentions to maintain green performance levels and adopt green practices has to come from all levels of society. The conceptual model establishes hypothesized relationship amongst nine constructs: issues, challenges, government, corporate, developers, buyers, private bodies, strategic-mix and sustainable development and develop twelve hypotheses. The data is collected by means of questionnaire survey method. The empirical results reveal that collaborative efforts of government and other stakeholders (corporate, developers, buyers, and private bodies) play a significant role in developing a strategic-mix that would lead to sustainable development however government as a regulatory body plays the most important role in developing the strategic-mix that will lead to resource efficient future. The contributions of the paper lies in developing an original Green Building Sustainability Model' and fill the research gap. Though model has been developed and empirically tested in India, it can be further tested on green buildings in other developing or developed countries. The model is generic and can be further tested for commercial and residential green building. The research results are of great relevance to the academicians, environmentalist, practitioners, policy makers and helpful to future research as reference. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.