At the COP21 in Paris 2015, 200 countries forged an agreement to phase out fossil fuel CO2 emissions from the built environment by mid-century. Following on from this the World Green Building Council (WGBC) met in September to define an approach to creating a net zero certification.
Representatives from ten GBCs worldwide – Canada, Germany, USA, China, India, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, The Netherlands and Sweden – met for a 3 day workshop with the WGBC and partner Architecture 2030 in New York with the aim of adding Zero Net Carbon (ZNC) certification as standard practice for all new construction and major renovations by 2030.
Key Outcomes from the Meeting
A priority for the attendees was to establish a shared definition for net zero that would form a basis for the certification pathway. A ZNC is now defined as: a highly energy efficient building that produces on-site, or procures, enough carbon-free renewable energy to meet building operations energy consumption annually.
GBCs committed to alight their ZNC definitions and programs to achieve a common carbon goal.
The GBCs agreed to provide transparency over how the proposed ZNC pathways are to be used to drive improvement in the bulding sector.
Each participating GBC pledged to adopt a ZNC definition and certification program as soon as possible, targeting to have these in place by the end of 2017.