Standard

The Climate Bonds Standard and Certification Scheme is a labelling scheme for Entities, Assets and Debt Instruments. Rigorous scientific criteria ensure that Certified investments in climate mitigation are consistent with the 1.5owarming limit in the Paris Agreement. The Scheme is used globally by bond issuers, governments, investors and the financial markets to prioritise investments which genuinely contribute to addressing climate change.

Location Specific Criteria for Commercial Buildings & Calculator

Low carbon emissions trajectories or proxy’s, represent rapid decarbonisation trajectories aligned with the goals of Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5oC

  • Trajectories are expressed as an emission intensity metric (kgCO2/m2), while
  • Accepted proxies represent a range of national and international building codes and sustainability rating schemes that represents the top 15% best energy performance of the considered buildings in that specific country. Information assessed to determine them are: build year, post occupancy evaluations, performance rating and standards.
Country Coverage Subsector

Proxy/Trajectory

Brochure

 

Australia

 

City specific Office

See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below.

 
 
 
 
Australia​
 
City specific Supermarkets Emissions Calculator can be found here.  
 
Australia
City specific Laboratories

Trajectory developed for Melbourne using a 2017 baseline* of 358.8 kgCO2/m​2

The CBI Zero Carbon Trajectory strarts at 358.8 kgCO2/m2  in 2017 and declines by 10.87kgCO2/m2 per year.

Chemical, biological and chemical-biological laboratories are eligible. Laboratory usage must comprise minimum 30% of the Gross Floor Area.

 

Australia

All States Buildings

Australian Proxy for Green Star Buildings

Certified by the GBCA under the Green Star Buildings scheme and comply with the Climate Positive Path.  Further details are available here

 

Australia

Country-wide Public Hospitals

Public Hospital buildings in Australia are now eligible for certification if their certified NABERS Energy star rating, without green power purchases, is above the hurdle rate established for the midpoint of the term of the bond.

For further details, please contact standards@climatebonds.net

PDF

 

Austria

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Belgium

Country wide Office  See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Canada

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  
 
 
 
China
 
Country wide Office Evaluation Standard (operational) for Green Building rating of 3 Star PDF

 

Czechia 

Coutry wide  Office  See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Denmark

Country wide Office  See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  
 
 
 
France 
 
City specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Germany 

 

City specific Office

See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below for new issuances

PDF

India

Country wide (Building include, but not limited to): offices, IT parks, banks, shopping malls, hospitals, airports, convention centres, educational instutuions (colleges, universities), factories and schools Buildings that achieve a Net Zero Rating under the IGBC Net Zero Building rating system. Buildings in construction and recently completed buildings must provide additional pre-issuance document. See brouche for additional information. PDF

 

Italy

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Ireland

City Specific Office  See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Japan

City specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below PDF
 
Korea
 
City specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below PDF
 
 
Mexico
 
City specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below PDF

 

 

Netherlands

Country wide Office

See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below

 

 

Norway

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Poland

Country Wide Office 

 

See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below. Entry for Warsaw can be used for all cities in Poland

 

 

Portugal

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Singapore 

Country wide Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Spain

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

Sweden

City Specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below  

 

United Kingdom

(England and Wales)

 

City specific Office See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below PDF

 

    

U.S.A

City specific Office

 

See Emissions Calculator drop down menu below.

 

 

 

International

International All applicable commercial building types

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)

6 year limit on bond tenor. Date of LEED certification must be within 5 years before bond issuance.

 

 

 

International

Global Office and Shopping Centres

EDGE Certified​

Only able to be used in developing countries

 

 

 

International

Global   Net Zero Energy subject to confirmation of local country schemes  

 

 

International

Global   Living Building Challenge Certified   

This baseline is considered interim (not groundtruthed yet) so, please, contact standards@climatebonds.net if you want to use it or for reporting requirements

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.

 

The tool below calculates the performance (i.e. carbon intensity) target a property asset should achieve in order to be eligible for Climate Bonds Certification under the Commercial Property criteria.

An equivalent calculator is also available for Residential Property CO2 Target Calculator.

The tool calculates the performance target based on three factors:

  1. the city’s baseline performance (the top 15% of the market),
  2. the year the bond is issued, and
  3. the term of the bond. 

The first factor is based on data Climate Bonds has collected while the second and third factors are set by the user by sliding the two buttons along the bar at the bottom of the horizontal axis of the chart.  

The user can view the city’s baseline performance by hovering over the starting point of the 2050 zero-carbon trajectory line on the chart.

We welcome questions or feedback on the tool.


Climate Bonds would like to thank Flux for their support without which this body of work would not have been possible.

Building Graph Commercial

Select from the dropdown list the location where the property asset is based. As sufficient data becomes available for other cities globally, they will be added to the list. Please note that at present, all baselines relate to office buildings. As data becomes available for other building types, they will be added to the calculator.
Year
Carbon intensity kgCO2/sqm p.a
  • Drag the first button along the bar to set the year the bond is issued
  • Drag the second button to set the year the bond matures.
  • For instance, if the bond is issued in 2017 and has a term of 5 years, the first button should be set at 2017 and the second button should be set at 2022 (2017+5=2022).
  • The calculated carbon intensity target is displayed at the top of the chart. To achieve certification under the Commercial Property standard, a property asset must achieve a carbon intensity of this level or below.