by jbs100909 a3 — October 14, 2009—The world is one step closer to developing common metrics to measure and report the carbon impact of buildings, according to the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), developers of the Green Star environmental rating system. GBC’s Green Star Director Andrew Aitken recently attended a meeting in Paris of the Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (SBCI), an industry collaboration facilitated under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
During the meeting, representatives from around the world, including the U.K., the U.S., South Africa, Germany and Jordan, agreed that an internationally consistent way of measuring and reporting the emissions associated with buildings was needed to support climate change mitigation policies.
GBCA notes that consistent reporting has long been a challenge for multinational organizations with buildings in many countries, and a simple, uniform way of assessing the carbon impact of buildings will make corporate reporting and international comparisons much easier.
A common carbon metric will also provide governments with an additional incentive to take swift action on energy efficiency initiatives in buildings, says GBCA. A consistent approach will support policy development at national, regional and international levels, and provide capacity to monitor building performance in a consistent way throughout the world.
GBCA has been working on this issue for some time. In March, representatives from the world’s three leading rating tools, Australia’s Green Star, the U.S.’ LEED, and the U.K.’s BREEAM, signed a landmark memorandum of understanding that committed to the development of a common carbon metric.
