A Review of Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Non-Regulatory Environmental Building Standards and Frameworks

Non-regulatory environmental building standards have been used in the built environment for more than thirty years and have had considerable influence over building development and policy. This paper identifies a trend, following the Paris Agreement, towards a new generation of non-regulatory building standards and frameworks based on defining net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission performance. These standards and frameworks have been developed in response to the imperatives of the Paris Agreement and other contextual drivers. Post-Paris Agreement, net-zero GHG emission standards have the following characteristics: a threshold-based approach to achieving certification; the use of a small number of metrics (typically two: operational energy and embodied carbon); and compliance based on operational performance rather than predicted operational energy use with models used to replicate the building in use. This paper will discuss global non-regulatory, net-zero GHG emission standards comparing the relative requirements and highlighting commonalities and differences. The paper also compares the post-Paris Agreement, net-zero GHG emission standards with pre-Paris Agreement low carbon credit-based environmental building standards considering their role in the development of net-zero GHG building standards and the possible impact of performance-based standards on new buildings. This study is relevant for policy makers, designers, and building developers by identifying the developing global consensus around what constitutes a net-zero GHG building and theorises, in relation to their developmental context, the implications of widespread implementation of these standards.