Introduction
There is little dispute that buildings are substantial CO2 emitters and contribute substantially to climate change (Reed and Wilkinson 2008). This argument is based on the environmental footprint of buildings, especially the high reliance on resources due to increased use of air conditioning and heating. At the same time it has been demonstrated that the value of a building can be linked to the building’s perceive level of sustainability (Myers et al. 2008), where the stakeholders including building owners, tenants and property valuers. The problem lies with how to distinguish the level of sustainability in a building which will facilitate a more direct comparison between each building. This is where sustainability rating tools can play a major role.
Countries have introduced rating tools to improve knowledge about the level of sustainability in the stock. It is argued that the individual characteristics of each country, such as the climate and type of building stock, necessitate an individual sustainability rating tool for that country. The downside is that to varying degrees the rating tools for different countries use different parameters. This has created complications for stakeholders such as investors purchasing buildings in different countries; an understanding of the differences between markets is increasingly harder (Dixon et al. 2008). This paper investigates the evolution of global building rating tools with the emphasis on office buildings. Consideration is given to different tools from different countries. It examines how rating tools have evolved and which specific countries and their respective rating tools have contributed to their global uptake. A comparison of uptake of the BRREAM Europe rating tool and Australia’s Green Star tool is provided.