Low Carbon Buildings

The greenhouse gas impacts of cities are enormous and 70% of a typical large city has impact locked up in buildings. To stand any credible chance of greenhouse gas abatement, buildings offers one of the biggest opportunities. In the long run, green property bonds are expected to make up to 40% of the green bonds market but this will depend on confidence among investors that the buildings are making a genuine contribution to the transition to a green economy. 

The Low Carbon Buildings criteria sets out what property assets are eligible for certification under the Climate Bonds Standard and covers three different types of property assets: 

• Commercial buildings: Buildings must be in the top 15% of their city in terms of emissions performance. This “hurdle rate” in emissions terms ratchets down to zero (carbon) in 2050.
• Residential buildings: Existing instruments such as local building codes, energy rating schemes (e.g. US Energy Star) and energy labeling schemes (e.g. Energy Performance Certificates in the UK) are leveraged as proxies for the  achievement of the 15% hurdle rate.
• Upgrade projects: Building improvements that achieve emission reductions of 30% to 50% (depending on bond term) from a baseline will qualify for certification. 

Further details are provided in the guidance on Low Carbon Buildings Criteria.

The criteria was developed by the Low Carbon Buildings Technical Working Group, which was initially made up of 17 international experts including representatives of the Buildings Performance Institute Europe, the Investor Group on Climate Change and Hermes Real Estate, to mention a few.

The first green bond certified under the Low Carbon Buildings criteria was issued by the ANZ Bank in May 2015, with proceeds of A$600m allocated to green buildings, wind energy and solar energy loans in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia.

 

 

TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP - Current Members

 

 

 

 

Investor Confidence Project (Environmental Defense Fund) Panama Bartholomy Director	Hermes Real Estate Tatiana Bosteels Head of Responsible Investment	Better Buildings Partnership Chris Botten Programme Manager	Clean Energy Finance Corporation Simon Brooker Executive Director
Investor Confidence Project (Environmental Defense Fund) Luís Castanheira Technical Director	Green Building Council Australia Jorge Chapa Head of Market Transformation	Verco Robert Cohen Technical Director	UNEP Finance Initiative Annie Degen-Neuville ​Special Advisor Long Term Finance and Energy Efficiency Coordinator
International Energy Agency John Dulac Buildings Sector Lead - Energy Technology & Policy	European Bank for Reconstruction  and Development Alexander Hadzhiivanov Associate Director, Sustainable Resource Investments	International Finance Corporation Prashant Kapoor Principal Industry Specialist	thinkstep Johannes Kreissig Vice President Building & Construction
Observatoire de l'Immobilier Durable LoÏs Moulas CEO	Buildings Performance Institute Europe Oliver Rapf Executive Director	EEVS Insight Alex Rathmell Director	Climate Strategy & Partners Peter Sweatman Chief Executive
Geophy Teun van den Dries Founder & CEO	Flux Consultants Ché Wall Director  TWG Lead Specialist	BRE Group Alan Yates Technical Director, Sustainability	European Commission (Joint Research Centre) Paolo Zancanella Officer

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Biographies of current members of the Technical Working Group are available here.

TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP - Past Members

• Tooraj Arvajeh, Chief Engineering Officer, BlocPower
• Thomas Boermans, Principal Consultant, Ecofys
• Catherine Bremner, Global Head of Sustainable Finance Solutions, ANZ
• Matthew Deegan, Director, Unity Finance
• Asari Efiong, Senior Policy Manager, European Commission 
• Hilary Elliot, Operations Manager, NPL Centre for Carbon Measurement
• Jacob Halcomb, Coordinator, Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme, UNEP
• Matthias Kopp, Head of Low Carbon Business & Finance Sector, WWF
• Niall McCarthy, Executive Director, Eureka Funds Management
• Bettina Redway, Deputy Treasurer, State of California
• Brian Rice, Investment Officer, CalSTRS
• Victor Rojas, Senior Manager - Clean Energy Finance, Environmental Defense Fund
• Yamina Saheb, Senior Energy Policy Analyst, Openexp
• Kirsten Spalding, Director, Ceres
• Robert Tromop, Energy Efficiency Consultant
• Paolo Zangheri, Scientific Support Officer, European Commission (Joint Research Centre)