Australia’s commercial building sector is proving to be the world’s best in sustainable practice and management, according to two recent announcements.
Due to the success of Australian commercial buildings conforming to the federal government’s ratings tool, its classification will be extended from five stars to six. Also, a recent global benchmark study has shown that Australian commercial buildings are among the best in reducing energy use.
The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) is a national building rating system that benchmarks the environmental performance of buildings in operation. NABERS is a federal program administered by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
“Until now, the highest NABERS energy star rating achievable was a five star rating,” the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) executive director for Green Star, Andrew Aitken, says.
“From now, six star NABERS ratings will be possible, reflecting the fact that many buildings are moving above and beyond established benchmarks.”
The global green building industry is evolving rapidly and buildings that are carbon neutral, carbon positive and even restorative are rapidly becoming a reality. “Rating tools such as GBCA’s Green Star and NABERS must keep evolving to keep up with best practice,” Aitken said.
The GBCA is also currently developing a Green Star – Performance rating tool to
assess the operational performance of existing buildings. “Feedback from our stakeholders has confirmed that the NABERS reporting standards are a required component of this tool and, as such, we’re collaborating with NABERS to ensure we deliver a new tool that is consistent, rigorous and easy to use.”
The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) Foundation is an initiative of some of the world’s largest institutional investors, representing $US1.7 trillion in assets under management, Its members include the world’s largest property companies, which have disclosed detailed data on the environmental performance of their funds.
More than 340 property funds and companies, with real estate assets totalling nearly $A900 billion, responded to a call by GRESB to disclose information on corporate environmental management, including data on energy and water consumption. The results show that the respondents spent an aggregate $US5 billion on energy in 2010, corresponding to estimated carbon emissions of approximately 34 million tons.
Australian property companies are leading the world in environmental management, with six companies ranked in the global top 10 best performing property companies, according to the GRESB report.
A substantial proportion of the Australian commercial sector reduced energy consumption (kWh/m2) in 2010 by 2.95 per cent.
Respondents included 60 from North America (with $US262b gross asset value) and 194 from Europe ($372b) as well as Asia and South America. Thirty three fund managers responded from Australia ($198b) with a combined floor footprint of approximately 38 million m2; the majority of respondents were shopping centres (55 per cent).
According to Nils Kok, executive director of the GRESB Foundation, disclosure of environmental performance is improving rapidly in the global property sector, but for most fund managers around the globe, there is still a long way to go.
“More efficient use of energy and other resources by the real estate sector can structurally reduce energy consumption,” he said. “The data shows that Australian fund managers in the commercial property sector have made big strides towards full integration of environmental management in daily operations.”