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.

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