How can green building standards improve your organization's environmental impact?

Almost 30 years ago I was entrusted with looking after the BREEAM team (1995-1997) still in its relative infancy then ('born' 1991). Back then, we saw a primary benefit as informing legislation. ie Market kudos of a shiny green label today; tomorrow: illegal not to have the label. As we know, higher overall building performance standards were not ramped up, nor legislated for; result: 25 years worth of more-of-the-same (BAU) mediocre buildings as demanded by powerful construction industry lobby -insisting they be 'left alone'. 30 years on, and anyone keeping up with climate crisis can see the window for progress has passed. The game now is making the best of what we have, unsuited tho it is, and adaptation: to the gross forces of nature.

Achieving a green building standard especially for buildings over 10years helps to promote the relevance of the property. It is a worthwhile investment in attracting new occupants in a competitive market with recent developments.

Choose the green building certification program that best fits your sustainable goals and you will open yourself to a world of expert knowledge. If certification is mandated, choose the credits that add value. The actual certification i.e. proving it should be the easy part. Implementing the green measures should be where the bulk of the effort goes.

As the reality of climate change intensifies, investors recognize the growing threat it poses to asset value over the long term. To safeguard properties, owners and operators must prioritize sustainability — and science-driven standards like BREEAM offer an effective vehicle to identify risks and opportunities to protect value. Using a holistic, science-backed set of metrics, owners and operators can focus on building performance metrics that matter and establish an improvement pathway that aligns with their business goals and stakeholder expectations. Beyond the certificate itself, BREEAM enables owners and operators to leverage the data gathered for reporting purposes to other platforms such as GRESB and CRREM.

The Edge Certification standard which stands for the Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) certification system, is a green building certification program developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. This standard is more prevalent in developing and emerging markets and targets reductions in energy, water and materials usage; it is consider a means for developers and property owners to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. In my opinion, post certification assessments after 5yrs should be conducted to ensure that the building continues to maintain or improve on its ‘green’ performance. The goal is net zero and maintaining net zero during its lifetime.