Green Policies, Regulations & Standards

Zero Carbon Certification is an ILFI-administered certification for buildings seeking verified carbon performance. It addresses operational energy use and embodied carbon through documentation, audit, and certification review. For new buildings and major renovations, Living Future states that projects must demonstrate a 20% reduction in embodied carbon emissions of primary and exterior materials compared with a baseline building. The certification is voluntary unless required by financing, procurement, contracts, or corporate commitments. It is relevant for net-zero real estate, green building finance, low-carbon materials, and credible building decarbonization claims.

Envision is a sustainable infrastructure framework and rating system managed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. It assesses infrastructure projects across 64 credits organized into Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Resilience. It can apply to transport, water, wastewater, energy, ports, airports, utilities, public works, and resilience infrastructure. Envision is voluntary unless required by procurement, finance, grants, or project agreements. It does not replace permits, safety rules or engineering standards, but provides third-party verification of sustainable, resilient and equitable infrastructure performance.

Fitwel is a global healthy building certification system focused on design and operational strategies that support occupant health and well-being. It uses tailored scorecards for existing and new buildings and sites, with evidence-based strategies covering areas such as indoor environment, active transportation, physical activity, food access, safety, policies and community health. Fitwel is voluntary unless required by contracts, investors, tenants, procurement or portfolio ESG strategies. It does not replace building codes, workplace law, accessibility rules or public health regulation. Fitwel is relevant for real estate owners, developers, employers, asset managers and investors seeking credible healthy building performance claims.

BOMA BEST is a voluntary building certification program developed by BOMA Canada for existing buildings, especially commercial real estate. It assesses energy performance, environmental management, water, waste, building operations, health, efficiency and resilience. BOMA Canada describes it as Canada’s largest environmental assessment and certification program for existing buildings, with more than 7,000 certifications or recertifications since 2005. BOMA BEST is strongest in Canada but has international relevance through BOMA networks. It is voluntary unless required by contracts, tenants, investors, procurement or portfolio ESG policies. It does not replace building codes, permits or legal environmental obligations.

NABERS, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System, measures actual operational performance for buildings and tenancies across energy, water, waste and indoor environment. It is primarily an Australian rating system, with international expansion through NABERS International. NABERS uses an annual model so ratings reflect current performance. It is voluntary in many contexts but can be required through Australian disclosure rules, leases, procurement, finance or portfolio ESG commitments. NABERS does not replace building codes, permits or legal disclosure obligations, but it provides a credible benchmark for measured building performance.

Green Star is the Green Building Council of Australia’s voluntary sustainability rating system for buildings, fitouts, homes and communities. It provides third-party certification for design and construction, operation, fitouts and communities, with ratings typically ranging from 4 to 6 Star Green Star. Green Star is Australia-focused, with international recognition and influence, but it is not a fully global certification system. It is voluntary unless required by procurement, finance, tenants, investors or internal policy. It does not replace building codes, permits or legal obligations. Green Star is relevant for sustainable design, construction, operation, resilience, health, carbon, nature and precinct-scale outcomes.

UK REACH is Great Britain’s chemicals regulation for registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals. It began on January 1, 2021, after EU REACH was brought into UK law, and now operates independently from EU REACH. It applies to chemicals manufactured in or imported into Great Britain, including substances on their own, in mixtures, and in certain articles. Companies may need registrations, DUIN follow-up, grandfathering dossier submissions, safety data sheets, authorizations, and restriction compliance. Transitional registration deadlines are currently October 27, 2029, 2030, and 2031, depending on tonnage and hazard profile. UK REACH is central to chemical safety, product compliance, and circular economy safeguards.

The Windsor Framework is the UK-EU agreement reached in February 2023 to revise the operation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. It is designed to protect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market while preserving the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland and safeguarding the EU Single Market. It does this through new arrangements for goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, including simplified processes for goods staying in Northern Ireland and full controls for goods moving onward into Ireland or the wider EU.

Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) is a global carbon management certification programme specifically for airports. Launched by ACI EUROPE in 2009, it independently assesses how airports measure, manage and reduce their carbon emissions. The programme has seven accreditation levels, progressing from carbon footprint measurement to emissions reduction, third-party engagement and ultimately net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions with action on Scope 3. As of 2026, more than 650 airports worldwide hold an accreditation.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG or sustainability-related terms, establish minimum requirements for EU investment funds that use terms such as "sustainable", "environmental", "impact", "transition", "social" or "governance" in their names. The Guidelines aim to protect investors from exaggerated or unsubstantiated sustainability claims. They require qualifying funds to meet an 80% investment threshold and apply specified exclusions depending on the terminology used. The Guidelines have applied to new funds since November 2024 and to existing funds since May 2025.