An international alliance of green building rating system organizations launched the first guide to facilitate the $35 trillion investment needed by 2030 to meet global energy transition goals.
The international alliance of UK-based Building Research Establishment (BRE), the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Alliance HQE-GBC France developed the guide, Financing Transformation: A Guide to Green Building for Green Bonds and Green Loans, to strengthen global cooperation between the finance and real estate sectors.
“The $35 trillion investment needed to meet global energy transition goals represents almost 10% of the value of global real estate—so we’re talking about investments on a gigantic scale,” says Davina Rooney, CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
The guide champions a holistic approach by integrating health and social outcomes as critical investment metrics, moving beyond financial and environmental returns.
This transformative shift calls for a fundamental reshaping of traditional practices, encouraging investors to embrace the risks associated with new technologies, scale existing solutions and prioritize social impacts. As such, the alliance is committed to developing criteria in tandem with finance providers to create, measure, and report on social value.
Here is the full press release on the guide:
An international alliance of world-leading green building rating system organizations today announced the launch of the first global practical guide to facilitate the $35 trillion investment needed by 2030 to meet global energy transition goals.
Financing Transformation: A Guide to Green Building for Green Bonds and Green Loans details how various building verification and certification standards can be used to comply with global classifications and bond frameworks, setting a trajectory for the global built environment to meet a sustainable 1.5°C climate threshold.
Gillian Charlesworth, CEO of BRE, said the guide is a testament to the unified international commitment to tackling climate change head-on. “By unlocking significant capital, we can drive the essential decarbonization of our built environment despite the inherent challenges,” Charlesworth said. “This guide represents a monumental first step in coordinating a worldwide movement for green buildings, and we eagerly anticipate further collaboration to meet the challenge of climate change in the sector.”
With buildings accounting for over 30% of global energy use and more than a quarter of emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that the majority of existing buildings will still be standing in 2050, necessitating large-scale capital investments to support sustainable retrofits and meet climate targets.
Davina Rooney, CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), said the alliance will strengthen global cooperation between the finance and real estate sectors, which will be essential in kick-starting the $35 trillion investment needed by 2030. “The $35 trillion investment needed to meet global energy transition goals represents almost 10% of the value of global real estate—so we’re talking about investments on a gigantic scale," Rooney said. “The good news is that this guide demonstrates how working with any of the leading rating tools, whether it’s Green Star, LEED, BREEAM, Green Mark, HQE or NABERS, will ensure a better outcome for people, the planet and your balance sheet.”
The CEO of Singapore's Building and Construction Authority (BCA), Mr. Kelvin Wong, said, "The International Sustainable Finance Guide represents a significant step forward for the built environment, as it will equip investors and financial institutions with the tools to recognize the value proposition of green buildings. We are confident that this initiative will lead to a wider adoption of BCA’s Green Mark Scheme and other similar green building rating systems internationally. This will help catalyze the sustainable growth of the building sector worldwide towards a low-carbon future."
The executive director of the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), Yvonne Soh, said the guide will ensure that rating systems can align with finance instruments and bond frameworks worldwide, driving impact on a global scale. “This guide will bring us closer to a world where sustainable development is not just an option, but a cornerstone of global economic activity,” Soh said.
Antoine Desbarrières, president of Alliance HQE-GBC France, said she is proud to contribute to the guide, which demonstrates a collective determination to transform the built environment. “By promoting green finance and robust certification systems, we can accelerate the transition to sustainable buildings and infrastructure. This collaboration is crucial for driving the large-scale changes needed to meet our climate goals," said Desbarrières.
Despite the proliferation of sustainable finance instruments in recent years, their potential is undercut by limited understanding and uptake. The guide’s forward-looking recommendations are designed to bridge this gap, enhancing interactions between the finance and real estate sectors and standardizing green building practices in diverse geographies.
Integrating major building certification systems like BREEAM, Green Mark, Green Star, HQE, LEED and NABERS provides a practical and robust framework for unlocking sustainable finance, ensuring that progress toward a more sustainable built environment is underpinned by scientifically backed, trustworthy methodologies.
The president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Peter Templeton, said the value of directing more capital into buildings and portfolios goes beyond decarbonization. “While meeting our global decarbonization goals is an essential driver, investment in sustainable buildings and portfolios will also deliver measurable improvements to occupant health, community resilience and ecosystem restoration,” said Templeton.
The guide champions a holistic approach by integrating health and social outcomes as critical investment metrics, moving beyond mere financial and environmental returns. This transformative shift calls for a fundamental reshaping of traditional practices, encouraging investors to embrace the risks associated with new technologies, scale existing solutions and prioritize social impacts. As such, the alliance is committed to developing criteria in tandem with finance providers to comprehensively create, measure and report on social value.
Produced by an international alliance comprising the UK-based Building Research Establishment (BRE), the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the newly welcomed Alliance HQE-GBC France, this groundbreaking guide marks a significant milestone in the coalition’s efforts to accelerate global climate action. These institutions are behind some of the world’s most influential green building rating systems—BREEAM (BRE), Green Star (GBCA), Green Mark (Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority and SGBC), HQE (Alliance HQE) and LEED (USGBC).
Related Stories
| Jul 28, 2014
Post Tower Wins CTBUH 10-Year Award
The 10 Year Award recognizes proven value and performance in a tall building, across one or more of a wide range of criteria, over a period of 10 years since its completion.
| Jul 24, 2014
MIT researchers explore how to make wood composite-like blocks of bamboo
The concept behind the research is to slice the stalk of bamboo grass into smaller pieces to bond together and form sturdy blocks, much like conventional wood composites.
| Jul 17, 2014
A harmful trade-off many U.S. green buildings make
The Urban Green Council addresses a concern that many "green" buildings in the U.S. have: poor insulation.
| Jul 17, 2014
A high-rise with outdoor, vertical community space? It's possible! [slideshow]
Danish design firm C.F. Møller has developed a novel way to increase community space without compromising privacy or indoor space.
| Jul 16, 2014
Check out this tree-like skyscraper concept for vertical farming
Aprilli Design Studio has stepped forward with a new idea for a vertical farm, which is intended to resemble a giant tree. It uses lightweight decks as outdoor growing space, adding up to about 25 acres of space.
| Jul 15, 2014
A look into the history of modular construction
Modular construction is more than a century old, and throughout its lifespan, the methods have been readapted to meet specific needs of different eras.
| Jul 14, 2014
Meet the bamboo-tent hotel that can grow
Beijing-based design cooperative Penda designed a bamboo hotel that can easily expand vertically or horizontally.
| Jul 11, 2014
Are these LEGO-like blocks the future of construction?
Kite Bricks proposes a more efficient way of building with its newly developed Smart Bricks system.
| Jul 10, 2014
BioSkin 'vertical sprinkler' named top technical innovation in high-rise design
BioSkin, a system of water-filled ceramic pipes that cools the exterior surface of buildings and their surrounding micro-climates, has won the 2014 Tall Building Innovation Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Jul 10, 2014
New tool aggregates LEED project info for over 150 countries
The U.S. Green Building Council announced the launch of an expanded online data visualization resource that will allow any user to access aggregated LEED green building project information in the more than 150 countries with LEED projects.
