Buildings

Green investments in the building sector

Buildings account for 40% of global emissions, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns the sector is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Rapid investment in green building solutions is essential. Fortunately, existing technologies can quickly decarbonise both new and renovated buildings.

What are the Buildings Criteria?

The Buildings Criteria define what qualifies as a green building investment under Climate Bonds Certification. They cover three key areas:

Commercial Buildings
Residential Buildings
Upgrade Projects

To achieve Certification, building owners must demonstrate that the financed buildings follow a zero-carbon trajectory. This is determined using a baseline emission intensity target, representing the top 15% of building performance in a given city or typology. We apply our Extrapolation Methodology to establish these trajectories globally.

Key milestones

In 2023, the Criteria were expanded to include New Buildings, bringing significant advancements:

Greater clarity for investors.
Integration of technological innovations.
Coverage of a broader range of building types.
Alignment with the EU Taxonomy for sustainable finance.

GET CERTIFIED

Location Specific Criteria for Residential Buildings

Country	State	State/Sub Category	Proxy	Brochure

Australia	New South Wales	Single & multifamily	BASIX Energy 40 Within the context of RMBS transactions in Australia, Maximum Weighted Average Life can be substituted for Maximum Tenor	PDF
Australia	Tasmania	Single & multifamily	Building code Australia (BCA) 2013 Within the context of RMBS transactions in Australia, Maximum Weighted Average Life can be substituted for Maximum Tenor	PDF
Australia	Victoria	Single & multifamily	Building code Australia (BCA) 2011 Within the context of RMBS transactions in Australia, Maximum Weighted Average Life can be substituted for Maximum Tenor	PDF
Australia	All States except Western Australia	House or apartment	Australian Residential Rooftop Solar Proxies for the Certification of houses or apartments using solar rooftop installations Rooftop Solar Proxy Spreadsheet The Simplified Solar Rooftop Proxy is valid until June 2022. If there are any questions, please contact standards@climatebonds.net	PDF
Australia	All states	Residential	Australian Residential Proxy for Green Star Homes Certified by the GBCA and comply with Renewable Energy Pathway A or B and do not include a swimming pool. Further detail is availabe here.
Belgium	Country wide	Single & multifamily	Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A OR Flemish building code after 2014
China	Country wide	Single & multifamily	Evaluation Standard for Green Building rating of 3 Star
Colombia	Country Wide	Social Housing Buildings	Consejo Colombiano de Construcción Sostenible (CCCS)	PDF
Colombia	Country Wide	Residential Buildings	Consejo Colombiano de Construcción Sostenible (CCCS)	PDF
Finland	Country wide	Single & multifamily	Use E - value shown on EPC - Please refer to PDF for more details. Also, properties built after Janaury 1st 2015 qualify. The tenor of the bond is to be a maximum of 10 years.	PDF
France	Metropolitan France	Single & multifamily	New residential buildings complying with Thermal Regulation RE2020 and built with a construction permit issued after 1 January 2022	PDF
Germany	Country wide	Single & multifamily	Energieausweis (EPC) rating of A OR B	PDF
Hungary	Country wide	Single & Multifamily	Residential buildings in Hungary are eligible for certification if their specific primary energy consumption (Fajlagos Primer Energiafogyasztás) published on an Energy Performance Certificate (Energetikai tanúsítvány) dated after Jan 1 2016, lies below the hurdle rate established for the midpoint of the term of the bond.	PDF
India	Country wide	Residential	Buildings certified under the IGBC Green Homes ® Rating system v3.0. See additional information in the brochure.	PDF
Ireland	Coutrywide	Single & multifamily	House or Apartment meeting trajectory requirements for CO2 emissions as shown on BER certificates. New buildings constructed after 2015 are automatically eligible if the mid-point of the bond term is no later than 2032. Upgrade and retrofit of asset: minimum 30% reduction in CO2 emissions, depending on tenor of bond, based on reduction in the CO2 emission figure from BER certificates.	PDF
Mexico	Country Wide	Single & Multifamily	Ecocasa-certified residential buildings that achieve a minimum of 20% reduction in CO2e emissions against the baseline, measured using the DEEVi tool. The version of Ecocasa elegible is the current version as of 1 June 2020. The tenor of the bond is to be a maximum of 10 years.	PDF
Netherlands	Country wide	Single & multifamily	Post 2012: Dutch Building Decree 2012 & Netherland Normalisation Institute (NEN) 7120 standard ---------- Pre 2012: Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Rating A ---------- Upgrade and Retrofit: Improvement of at least two EPC levels to at least C. Ie E > C, D > B, or C > A, correspond to at least 30% reduction in CO2 emissions	PDF
Norway	Country wide	Single & multifamily	House or Apartment: Energimerking (EPC) rating of A, B OR C OR Houses: TEK (Building Code) 2007, or TEK 2010 Apartments: TEK (Building Code) 2010 Houses and Apartments: TEK (Building Code) 2017
Peru	Country wide	Social Housing Buildings	Mivivienda Sustainable Programme current 11th Version Rating Scheme	PDF
Poland	Country wide	Single & multifamily	Assets meeting trajectory requirements for primary energy demand Assets qualified by year of construction (TC2017/2021) Upgrade and retrofit of asset: 30-50% improvement in CO2 emissions, depending on tenor of bond, based on reduction in the CO2 emission figure from EPCs from before and after the retrofit, which meet the requirement of Technical Note 2014 (issued after July 2015)	PDF
South Africa	Country wide	Single & multifamily	New and refurbished residential buildings complying with SANS10400-XA standard
Spain	Catalonia	House or apartment	Residential buildings in Catalonia are eligible for certification if their carbon intensity (Emissiones de CO2) published on an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) (Qualificació Energètica) lies below the hurdle rate established for the midpoint of the term of the bond. See emissions calculator below.	PDF
Sweden	Country wide	House or apartment	House or Apartment meeting trajectory requirements for CO2 emissions as shown on Energy Performance Certificates The trajectories are different depending on whether the EPC's are created before or after Version 2.6. (See PDF)	PDF
Switzerland	Country wide (Canton-dependent)		3 standards: Minergie A, Minergie P and Minergie. There is a minimum threshold that must be met for all requirements. It has not yet been determined how long the proxy would be valid for, however it is currently acceptable for a default maximum tenor of 10 years. All certified buildings are to meet a minimum index. (See PDF).	PDF
United Kingdom	England and Wales	Single & multifamily Single & multifamily	Environmental Impact (EI) rating of A or B or Emissions Intensity Target Dependent on the Tenor of the Bond as part of the Energy Performance Certificate programme	PDF
United States	California	Single & multifamily	California building code Title 24 compliant (Updated 2022-03-23)	PDF
United States	New York	Single & multifamily	Multifamily housing: NYSERDA’s relevant programs (e.g. the New Construction - Housing (NC-Housing) Program) or one of New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Clean Energy Incentive offerings. 1. Tier 3 NC-Housing 2. Carbon Neutral Ready + Health NC-Housing Additionally, any building constructed after December 2022 must not use fossil fuels for heating, hot water, cooking or on-site electricity generation other than back-up power requirements.	PDF
International	International		LEED Gold OR Platinum TOGETHER WITH 30% improvement above the levels in ASHRAE 90.1 Only able to be used where a local proxy has not been established 10 year limit on bond tenor. Date of LEED certification must be within 5 years before bond issuance
International	International		EDGE certified Only able to be used in developing countries. 10 year limit on bond tenor
International	International		Net Zero subject to confirmation of local country schemes
International	International		Living Building Challenge Certified

For locations where buildings emissions performance data does not exist, or is too limited to be representative of the market, the Low Carbon Building Criteria Technical Working Group has established a series of proxies. These proxies undergo extensive reviews to ensure that they are representative of buildings in-line with a zero-carbon building sector in 2050.

For issuers looking to use locally available tools, rating systems, or performance schemes as proxies for meeting the Low-Carbon Building Standard, see the Proxy Methodology document for additional guidance.

Please note if you would propose for the Certification to use a building code or rating system from your building, which is not listed in this table, then it may take the Working Group up to two weeks to evaluate whether the proposed code / system may be used for Certification.

Trajectory Calculator