Low Carbon Buildings

What are the Building Criteria 

The greenhouse gas emissions of cities are very significant and up to 70% of a large city's emissions are related to its buildings. Investing in low emissions or zero emissions buildings will play an essential role in contributing to achieving the Paris Agreement goals.

In the long term, green bonds which are tied to low emission or zero carbon buildings are expected to amount to 40% of the green bonds market. The growth of this market will depend on the confidence among investors that the buildings are making a genuine contribution to the transition to a green economy. 

The Low Carbon Buildings Criteria set out what building assets are eligible for certification under the Climate Bonds Standard. They are divided into three different types: 

• Commercial Buildings: buildings used for commercial purposes and include office space, retail space, warehouse, etc. Each commercial subcategory has a unique emissions performance profile. 
• Residential Buildings: buildings used for housing and includes single family, multi-family, and mixed use where more than 50% of the asset is residential. Subcategories of residential buildings have unique emissions performance profiles. 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 EU) are leveraged as emission performance proxies (using the proxy methodology). 
• Upgrade Projects: Non-building assets such as street lighting improvements can meet the performance criteria if they achieve an emission reduction of 30%-50% (depending on bond term) from a baseline

 

The criteria were developed by the Low Carbon Buildings Technical Working Group, which is listed below.

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.

Over 30 Climate Certified Bonds linked to Low Carbon Buildings have been issued since then; representing approximately a quarter of all the bonds so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

​ 

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)