CICA Working Group Sustainable Construction report: Building Passport Task Force – Kick-off meetings Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC)

The Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GABC) is an initiative launched at COP21, as part of the Lima Paris Action Agenda. It aims to mobilise all stakeholders, including member states and non-state actors from the Buildings and Construction sector to scale up climate actions in the sector.

The GABC focuses on the achievement of the low-carbon and energy transition through fostering the development of appropriate policies for sustainable, energy efficient buildings, which allows a concrete value-chain transformation of the sector.

It is committed to putting the buildings and construction sector on the below 2 °C path.

GABC activities are organized around 5 different Work Areas contributing to the transition towards low-GHG and resilient real estate:

  • Education and Awareness
  • Public Policies
  • Market Transformation
  • Finance
  • Building Measurement, Data and Information

The Building Measurement, Data and Information GOALS:

  • Creating Data Transparency
  • Ensuring Data Format Compatibility
  • Closing Information Gaps
  • Development of international data and measurement standards

The pretended outcome is to create a Building Passport Handbook with guidelines and good practice examples.

The collection of data trough Big Data will allow to organise, systematise and manage information trough Silos for better decision making in:

  • Assessment of Effectiveness of Policies
  • Operation and Maintenance
  • Investment and Financial Decision-Making and Insurance
  • Inventory Generation
  • Valuation
  • Cost Management
  • New Product Development
  • Strategic Planning
  • Regulatory Compliance

The objectives of the Building Passport Handbook initiative are:

  • Establish a common understanding about data collection and management;
  • Provide practical recommendations for organisations implementing (or intending to implement) a Building Passport;
  • Underpin these recommendations with examples of good practices and lessons learnt.

The Handbook:

  • Is not intended as a lobbying instrument, but as a help-and-support tool directed at a global audience, bearing in mind potential differences of market maturity between world regions and even within regions. Therefore, a flexible approach towards development of Building Passports is required rather than being too prescriptive;
  • Is aimed to support the development of market-led Building Passports initiatives by acting as a source of information and good practice, rather than at attempting to harmonise existing or future initiatives through an imposed standard as this might result in stifling the dynamism that countries already have. In fact, it is likely that each country will develop its own version of the Building Passports since they have their own market conditions and regulations;
  • Needs to take into account the perspective of different end-users for the data provided by the Building Passport, clearly articulating the benefits for each stakeholder;
  • Should highlight the potential of the Building Passport to interact with regulated documents.

Additional issues to be considered:

  • For a proper reliability of data collection for the Building Passports, there should be suitable verification methods;
  • The existence of several coding systems in the building industry;
  • The distinction between static data (e.g. building dimensions, planning documents) and dynamic data (e.g. energy consumption) which would need to continuously be collected and managed;
  • Special emphasis on one paragraph of the document “Building Passport – Stakeholder Discussion Paper”: “Passports need to be fully integrated into existing document management systems, or at least seamlessly compatible rather than separate, unlinked tool. Boundaries and synergies with other tools (such as EPCs and commercial sustainability certification systems) will need to be clearly defined”. This part is basic in order to make clear the similarity, difference or compatibility with sustainability certification systems, in order to eliminate confusions (such as LEED in the US – which is widely applied in Chile without concern to local conditions, others, and the Chilean system Certificación Edificio Sustentable – CES). www.certificacionsustentable.cl

Timeline for delivery

  • First draft ready (including case studies) by beginning of June
  • Dissemination and stakeholders consultation until end of June
  • Final draft ready by end of September
  • Design in October
  • Launch at COP25 (Chile)