The Green Building Council of Australia is updating the existing Green Star rating tools.
I had the great privilege of attending the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) Responsible Products and Materials Seminar in October. It was an event bringing together professionals from the building and construction industry – architects, designers, product manufacturers, retailers and procurement managers – to learn about the importance of making sustainable and socially responsible products and material choices.
One of the highlights of the day, apart from knowledge-sharing with other attendees, was the segment hosted by Nicole Sullivan, GBCA’s Senior Manager – Green Star Solutions. Nicole took us through a journey of discovery of how future Green Star credits will apply to product manufacturers.
She started by asking – WHY ARE WE HERE?
Answer – “Because:
Resources matter
Our environment matters – think “life cycle picture”; every tier in the supply chain can impact resources
Health and wellbeing matters – we need to create healthy indoor environments
Jobs matter – consider the people in your supply chains
Quality matters, and
Products and materials can have a significant impact on all these issues
“We want to equip and support you in a future of sustainable products and materials, and for specification to be there for you”. This means that the ongoing issue of product substitution, which has been plaguing the building and construction sector for decades, should be addressed within the new rating tools.
We have an issue with resource overconsumption. There have been significant increases in consumption for biomass, minerals, metals and fossil fuels. In 2005, the combined total for these commodities was 58 billion tonnes, the prediction for 2030 is 100 billion tonnes. Our planet can’t sustain this growth.
So, how will Green Star for New Buildings address these important issues?
Green Star Future Focus
We know the Green Star for New Buildings rating tool will feature eight new categories. Each category represents an issue that industry stakeholders have identified as being critical to creating sustainable built environments in the next decade.
The eight categories are:
Responsible
Healthy
Resilient
Positive
Places
People
Nature
Leadershi
“Green Star for New Buildings provides a new definition of a sustainable building”.[1]
New Green Star rating tool – Philosophy for sustainable products
We got a sneak peek into what the new requirements under Green Star will mean for product manufacturers.
The philosophy centres on broad, holistic sustainability, which means Green Star will reward manufacturers for increasing their sustainability credentials and initiatives. In addition, all product claims are to be measurable, reportable and will be third-party verified.
How this looks exactly, we won’t know until we see the draft version of the credits for Green Star for New Buildings, due in December 2019.
But Nicole did introduce the new categories that are relevant for product manufacturers –
“These are the different categories, this is our thinking, and this is where it will be heading”, so let’s start with:
RESPONSIBILITY – manufacturing avoids significant environmental impact by implementing measures such as:
·Environmentally responsible certification – stewardship schemes that have strong environmental content
Manufacturing – Environmental Management Systems (EMS) ISO14001 – this involves EMS ISO14001 certification for larger companies, and small to medium-sized organisations will need to have their EMS third-party audited
Carbon neutral certified products – to be purchased by the project, i.e. for the Green Star Project
TRANSPARENCY – Product contents and environmental impacts should be transparent and meet high standards:
Environmental impact declaration – Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
Content declaration – Verified declaration of potentially harmful content (i.e. are there any hazardous or toxic substances like carcinogens in the product ingredients)
Holistic sustainability certification – Type 1 Ecolabels (for example, GECA)
STEWARDSHIP – Supply chain is operated ethically; it respects human rights and has low environmental impact:
Holistic supply chain stewardship certification – with holistic sustainability content
Human Rights verification – verified claim regarding human rights in supply chain
Ethical business practice – verified claim regarding ethical business practice
FORESIGHT – Manufacture for low carbon and circular economy, which means:
10% lower embodied carbon in 4 and 5 Green Star buildings
20% lower embodied carbon in 6 Green Star buildings
Throughout the Responsible Products and Materials Seminar, there were three areas of focus, three things that kept popping up in almost every presentation.
Firstly, the use of Life Cycle Assessment to understand not only the product’s environmental impacts but equally importantly, the CARBON footprint.
Secondly, modern slavery, human rights and supply chain were weaved throughout the conversation.
And thirdly, the need to understand product ingredients, especially regarding toxicity and human health, was emphasised; low toxic and non-hazardous materials set the standard.
Conclusion
This is really exciting, a positive move from the GBCA and really bold! It will be a fight to the top, which is what we need if we want to see any real, lasting impact. We should expect to see product manufacturers rewarded for taking the lead in sustainability.
The draft version of the Green Star credits for Green Star for New Buildings is due in December. GBCA want to hear from you, from everyone – architects, designers, builders, product manufacturers – they want your feedback on the draft credits. It’s expected that the consultation period will run from December through to February 2020, with Green Star for New Buildings being released mid 2020 so keep your eye out for further blogs on this topic!
And start considering - is your business ready to meet the credits for Green Star for New Buildings?
Additional
If you want to learn more about the future of Green Star, the GBCA has posted an article on their website.
The ultimate challenge for sustainable building, 10 April 2019.
Endnotes
[1] “Green Star for New Buildings: A Future Focus consultation paper”, p19, Green Building Council of Australia, https://gbca-web.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/consultation-paper.pdf
