16 November 2009 - Today the world’s leading green building organisations have reached a ground-breaking agreement to adopt a common global language for the measurement of the carbon footprint of buildings.
The announcement of a ‘common carbon metric’ follows a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this year between various international Green Building Councils, including Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), UK Green Building Council and the U.S. Green Building Council; as well as the BRE Trust (the owners of BREEAM).
Just weeks ahead of COP15 in Copenhagen, this is a critical and timely step designed to help the world to realise the unparalleled, cost-effective carbon mitigation potential of buildings, which account for around 40 percent of the world’s energy use and 33 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The common carbon metric will be piloted by the leading green building rating tools, and made available to all those who are dedicated to promoting the understanding and development of a green, low-carbon and sustainable built environment.
The metric is recognised by the UNEP Sustainable Building and Climate Initiative, and will be highlighted before decision makers at the conference in Copenhagen in December.
Tony Arnel, chair of the World Green Building Council says the significance of this agreement should not be underestimated. “The coming together of so many leading green building organisations is unprecedented and appropriate at this critical moment in the world’s response to the global challenge of climate change. Buildings account for a third of global carbon emissions, and, as the IPCC has demonstrated, provide by far the most cost-effective carbon reduction potential. The World GBC is delighted to have been able to play a part in this historic development and to welcome BREEAM to work in partnership with the family of leading rating tools operated by Green Building Councils.”
Andrew Aitken, Green Star director of the Green Building Council, was involved in the technical
development of the metric. “With the development of rating tools worldwide,” Aitken says, “it is crucial we speak of carbon in a consistent and common way. This agreement to will go a long way in helping developing countries to develop a consistent framework.”
More information
GBCA www.gbca.org.au
Carbon: a common global language
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