Did you know Green Building Ratings make good business sense?
Green Building Rating tools provide the framework for the transformative action required to transition the built environment to a sustainable future. There has been a rise in Green building rating certifications in response to the need for urgent climate action and the many advantages of building green. Did you know that Don’t Waste can support you in obtaining a green building certification and on your Net Zero Waste journey?
Green building rating tools evaluate the sustainability performance of a building and its impact on the environment. The World Green Building Council estimates that approximately 40% of carbon emissions come from the built environment. This highlights the importance of future-proofing buildings so that they incorporate sustainability and are resilient in the face of unpredictable weather events and climate change. Green buildings have a number of environmental, economic and social benefits for a property.
Benefits of Green Buildings
Source: World Green Building Council
Green buildings also have a critical role to play in attaining the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Read: Waste Management Goals and achieving the SDGs) and boosting your company’s ESG ranking (Read: ESG ranking for business). Investors are increasingly looking at the ESG performance and sustainability of buildings as it creates a way to lower and manage risk.
Green Building and the Sustainable Development Goals
Source: https://www.worldgbc.org/green-building-sustainable-development-goals
It has been proven that green building ratings don’t just improve the environmental performance of a building but they also make good business sense. Green buildings use on average between 20-40% less energy and water than traditional buildings. It is estimated that green buildings will represent $24.7 trillion in emerging markets by 2030, they are more attractive to tenants and generally have a higher rental income. Most banks now also offer ESG funds to allow companies to incorporate sustainability factors when investing. Many leading banks now offer 1-2% lower interest rates on green bonds for building green. The takeaway here is that as ESG continues to gain prominence, green building rating tools and certifications are going to play a crucial role as higher ratings are equated to higher value.
Better bond rates for Green Buildings
WHAT ARE GREEN BUILDING RATING TOOLS AND HOW DOES WASTE FIT IN?
Green building rating certifications reward buildings for showcasing environmental leadership and recognise properties for their sustainability achievements. Green building rating systems provide an objective way to certify that a building is as sustainable as it claims. There are different types of green building rating agencies such as GreenStar, BREEAM, LEED, NABERS and GRESB which you can use to certify your project or building.
Green Building Rating Agencies
Certifications can evaluate buildings across a number of different environmental indicators such as water efficiency, energy use, waste reduction, biological diversity, innovation, design and many others. These ratings can be used for different phases of a buildings life-cycle from the design, operational and all the way to the decommissioning phase. After the assessment the building is awarded a score and certification based on their performance and sustainability achievements.
More recently, there has been a focus on Net Zero certifications and projects are able to achieve a rating specifically for Net Zero Carbon, Water, Waste and Ecology. We are delighted to see this renewed focused on waste in the green building space. In the past, most of the attention of green buildings was placed on energy and water efficiency. While these are both necessary components, waste reduction is also a critical component which should not be overlooked. Waste reduction contributes significantly to improving the environmental savings of a building which is evident through our CEP portal. Finding creative waste management solutions can also lead to cost savings and contribute to your overall ESG objectives.
DON’T WASTE CAN HELP YOU OBTAIN A GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION
Did you know that DON’T WASTE can support you in obtaining green building certifications? The foundation of every green building rating certification is accurate data, after all, you cannot manage what you haven’t measured. We provide the type of auditable and verifiable data required by building agencies to support the accreditation process.
Don’t Waste supports Green Building Ratings
For example, a Net Zero Waste accreditation requires a year of accurate and auditable data to verify your environmental performance during the certification process. It is not enough to simply transport your waste off-site there is a requirement to ensure that you can verify where your waste actually ends up. The Don’t Waste System is able to track and record all of your waste data in a centralised location and gives you access to your environmental savings live in real time (Read: Communicating your Environmental Performance). Our system provides a credible and transparent platform with source tracking allowing you to generate unique reports to meet rating tools waste requirements. We can provide custom built reports which can be tailored to the various green building ratings tools. Having meaningful and verifiable data allows you to set targets and work actively to pursue your Net Zero Waste goals. There are also small nuances between Net Zero Waste and Zero Waste to landfill which should be given consideration (Read: Is Net Zero Waste achievable).
Gain a green building rating accreditation with data you can trust through the Don’t Waste Group. We are pleased to share that we also have a Net Zero Accredited Professional in our team, Dr Linus Naik, who is able to consult and guide you on your journey. Get in touch to find out how we can support
