Climate and industry leaders lay out new rules to prove buildings meet net zero carbon

Leading climate and sector bodies have today published the draft version of an approach to prove that buildings are net zero carbon. 

Organisations including RIBA, the RBE, the UK Green Building Council, and the Carbon Trust have laid out the pilot for the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. 

The initiative aims to provide one common methodology for developers, architects and occupiers to verify that a building meets net zero requirements. 

Specifications around building energy performance and construction quality appear in the standard, with guidance around avoiding fossil fuel use on-site, operational energy use, renewables and refrigerants, as well as carbon emissions associated with materials and construction processes. 

Technical details on how buildings can meet the standard, such as what limits and targets must be reached, the evidence required to back up claims and what reporting processes should be in place also feature in the recent pilot. 

The Better Buildings Partnership, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the London Energy Transformation Initiative and RICS, who form part of the team behind the standard, are encouraging the industry to start using the draft version as they get ready to run real-world tests of the blueprint.  

More than 350 industry experts have supported the development of the methodology through its steering group, while 700 individuals have participated in roundtables and consultations, according to the announcement. 

The standard also aligns with the UK’s net zero by 2050 and 78% reduction in emissions by 2035 targets.

It covers all major building sectors including both new and existing buildings. 

Smith Mordak, chief executive of UK Green Building Council, and governance board member of the steering group, said: “I invite built environment practitioners from across the industry to implement the Standard on any buildings being designed, constructed, or operated, to ensure that the UK’s building stock decarbonises rapidly enough for the UK to stand a chance of keeping temperature rise to within the critical 1.5C threshold.”