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There are hundreds of millions of individual buildings in the world, and each presents multiple and diverse energy needs. Although most countries have introduced policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in buildings, through measures to improve energy efficiency, these policies have not resulted in a significant reduction in emissions.

Thanks to a new ISO standard, finding and notifying a carbon metric of an existing building, associated with the operation of the building, will be easier and will help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. ).

ISO 16745, Sustainability in civil engineering buildings and works - The carbon metric of an existing building during the stage of use, Parts 1 and 2, will easily provide a set of methods for the calculation, reporting, communication and Verification of a collection of carbon indicators for GHG emissions, derived from the energy consumption measured during the activity of an existing building, the energy consumption measured by the user and other relevant GHG emissions and removals.

Jacques Lair, president of the ISO subcommittee that developed the standard said: “At a time when global warming is increasingly evident, with its devastating effects across the planet, to have a tool to measure the carbon footprint Left by the buildings is of the utmost importance. ISO 16745 will bring a response to everyone's expectations. ”

The world's first tool to measure the carbon footprint of buildings:

Buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the world's energy used, and up to a third of global GHG emissions, both in developed and developing countries. But this sector also has the greatest potential to significantly reduce GHG compared to other important emitters.

In this context, the measurement and notification of GHG emissions from existing buildings is essential to allow a significant and cost-effective mitigation of them. Until now, there was no agreed worldwide method for measuring, reporting and verifying potential reductions in GHG emissions from existing buildings in a consistent and comparable manner.

There is a need for a metric and ISO 16745 will be very useful, not only in countries with a sufficient number of experts and a precise database, but also in those countries where expert services are limited and the bases of data have considerable gaps.

The standard could be used as a universal tool to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions, providing the basis for exact performance lines of the buildings to be built, national objectives and those of the Carbon Market .

ISO 16745 aims to be practical not only for the building construction profession, but for many actors who are expected to use the carbon metric of a building as a reference for decision making in their business activities, government policies and as a basis for benchmarking. The simplicity of its approach means that it is applicable to all scales, from cities and construction portfolios to individual buildings.

ISO 16745 was developed by the ISO / TC 59 technical committee, Civil engineering buildings and works, SC 17 subcommittee, Sustainability in civil engineering buildings and works, whose secretariat is in charge of AFNOR, the ISO member for France.

Original article: https://www.iso.org/news/ref2205.html Katie Bird Head, Communication ISO