What sustainable building assessment method should I adopt to rank my commercial buildings ?

[Suzy]

I am researching carbon accounting metrics used by corporate occupiers to measure / monitor the performance of their buildings  .. have you adopted a standard environmental metrics to support your credible net zero pathway ? ...  interested to learn collective thoughts on ways to enhance carbon transparency and crunch the carbon numbers!

[Stuart]

Numerous operational building energy use targets and measures existing including CIBSE benchmark for non-domestic buildings which is 225 per square metre of floor area per year (kWh/sqm/yr) .  The UK Green Building Council's (UKGBC) have suggested targeting 72 kWh/sqm/yr.  More recently, the RIBA proposed a more ambitious energy use target of less than 55 kWh/sqm/yr for all operational energy uses in non-domestic buildings by 2030.  

Embodied carbon (i.e. scope 3 / supply chain emissions which arise from extraction of resources; manufacturing products; transporting materials; and assembling the building) is measured in kilograms of carbon emitted per square metre (kgCO2e/m²) emitted during the non-operational phase of a building.  With regards to a universal embodied carbon intensity for buildings, the RIBA proposes targeting less than 500 kilograms of carbon dioxide per square metre of floor area per year (kgCO2/sqm/yr) using a whole life carbon assessment in non-domestic buildings. 

If the UK is to meet its climate change targets by 2050, all new buildings may need to operate at net zero by 2030. 

To help achieve these goals, corporate occupiers will need to work together to promote greater carbon transparency standards (e.g. data to scope scope 3 carbon assessments inc origin of materials in a building, ability of materials to be re-used/re-cycled etc.). 

For help calculating Embodied Carbon, take a look at -

The Structural Carbon Tool