The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) will introduce a “net zero” label to recognize buildings that have a neutral impact on areas including energy, carbon and water.
Buildings that go beyond the zero target and make positive environmental contributions, such as those generating more renewable energy than they consume, will also be recognized under the label.
The GBCA’s chief executive officer Romilly Madew said the announcement represents a step towards embracing a “net zero philosophy.”
“Alongside this label, we will introduce an advanced curriculum to educate professionals on how to deliver net zero buildings, promote net zero as an achievable goal in our events, and create resources that can be used internationally to drive the uptake of net zero building worldwide,” she said.
The label was introduced to mark the inaugural Buildings Day at the COP21 climate change conference in Paris on 3 December. Green building councils from South Africa and Canada also made a commitment to introduce a “net zero” label, and 25 green building councils from around the world pledged to register, renovate or certify over 1.25 billion square metres of green building space and train almost 130,000 green building professionals by 2020.
Under the GBCA’s current Green Star rating system, buildings can achieve a rating ranging from one star up to six stars depending on their sustainability outcomes.
