Call for evidence on UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard

A call for evidence has been issued in relation to the UK's first Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS).

Leading industry organisations including the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), Building Research Establishment (BRE), the Carbon Trust, Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), IStructE, London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) have come together to develop the standard. The call for evidence notes that the standard “will enable industry to robustly prove their built assets are net zero carbon” and in line with national climate targets, and “will set out metrics by which net zero carbon performance is evaluated, as well as performance targets and limits that need to be met”.

The standard will be science based, developed collaboratively and openly available. The webinar that accompanied the launch of the call for evidence noted that the standard is neither constrained nor tied to government policy but that there is a hope that it aligns. It also noted that that, in itself, the standard will not be a certification scheme, but there is an intention that this is developed from the NZCBS at a later date. The aim is for the standard to be achievable and combine a top down (what needs to be achieved) and bottom up (how can this be achieved/what can be done) approach. It will address whole-life carbon and will set targets or limits for operational and embodied carbon and other metrics. It is intending to cover a wide variety of assets and be applicable to new and existing buildings.

The purpose of the call for evidence is to “contribute to the evidence to define the performance levels”, and seeks “case study data from the real estate and built environment industry”. UK built environment industry practitioners are called upon to share embodied carbon and in-use operational energy performance data for their buildings. The deadline for data submission is 16 December 2022, and the standard development team are seeking those able to support operational energy and embodied carbon modelling in January 2023.