BRE consults on net zero BREEAM

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has today launched an open consultation to seek views on a major update to its world-leading sustainability assessment method, BREEAM.

BREEAM V7 will address the need to account for embodied carbon in performance assessments, helping building owners and developers to make more informed decisions about the materials and products they use in order to meet environmental targets.

The new version of BREEAMVersion 7 (V7) – will see the first modular update across multiple BREEAM schemes, introducing improved Energy and Carbon science across New Construction, In-Use, and Refurbishment and Fit Out.

Photo: Dutch investors Vesteda recently completed the world’s largest real estate certification using BREEAM to prove their sustainability commitment.

The consultation will gather views from the wider industry to enable BRE to ensure the BREEAM suite of products reflects the latest science in relation to net zero carbon and developments in international regulation.

The BREEAM V7 approach to address whole life carbon includes measuring and reporting on operational carbon emissions as well as embodied carbon. V7 will therefore provide a valuable tool for investors in assessing the climate risk of a building. It will support building owners and operators to set benchmarks for their carbon emissions as an important step to reducing them and showing whether a building is on track for net zero.

"Public consultations like these have proven an invaluable exercise in helping to develop BREEAM to users’ ambitions to reduce carbon in and from buildings. I urge all relevant stakeholders to take part,” said Gillian Charlesworth, CEO of BRE.

“By looking at Energy and Carbon science across the board, BRE continues to provide the leading assessment and certification method for the built environment, helping owners and occupiers around the world to address the most pressing sustainability challenges in a holistic way.

“We want to ensure that BREEAM reflects the latest developments in net zero science and regulation to ensure users can drive sustainability projects beyond best practice, confident that their sustainability goals really are being met.

The consultation will close on 30 June.