A Common Carbon Metric for Building Services

Green Leaf Engineers, a Brisbane based consultancy, are ecstatic to hear that Australia has taken one step closer to obtaining a common carbon metric for building services.

Green Building Council of Australia reports...

"The world is one step closer to developing common metrics to measure and report the carbon impact of buildings.

The Green Building Council of Australia's Green Star Director, Andrew Aitken, has recently returned from Paris, where he attended a meeting 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 UK, US, 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. This is an exciting project for members of the Green Building Council of Australia. Consistent reporting has long been a challenge for multinational organisations with buildings across many international boundaries, 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. An internationally consistent approach to quantify carbon emissions and savings will support policy development at national, regional and international levels, and provide capacity to monitor building performance in a consistent way throughout the world. And of course, the general public will be able to compare best practice buildings in their own countries with those around the world.

The GBCA has been ahead of the game on this issue for some time. In March, representatives from the world's three leading rating tools, Green Star, the US' LEED and the UK's BREEAM, signed a landmark memorandum of understanding which committed to the development of a common carbon metric.

While we acknowledge this is a complex matter, the GBCA believes a common approach to the measurement and reporting of carbon in buildings will be a significant achievement for the future revisions of Green Star tools. Most importantly, the common carbon metric will help us to create a new international language and talk with one voice about the vital role green buildings can play in creating a low-carbon future.

Romilly Madew

Chief Executive Green Building Council of Australia"