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Green Labels:Does monitoring and recertification matter?:

Prof. Sarah Sayce

Ainoriza Mohd AiniSchool of Surveying & Planning, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture

Kingston University London

Informing responsible investors on the differences of sustainable building certifications with special reference to Malaysia

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Introduction

• Malaysian property investors who pursue responsible property investment (RPI) principles may place greater significance on the certification of a building than do investors from the wider international community. (Mohd Aini, 2010)

• Why this seemingly greater reliance may be occurring ?• Does monitoring and renewal of the certification matter? • Monitoring and renewal = greater assurance to investors? • What can we learn from other green certifications? i.e. ISO 14001, Forest

Stewardship Council (FSC) and Fairtrade Mark

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This paper...

• Addresses the key practical considerations of – voluntary nature of most certificates– monitoring of actual against expected building performance and a lack

of monitoring of adherence to the standard during the building life.

• Explores whether the introduction of monitoring and the need for renewal of the certification may be important factors in providing investors with greater assurance that highly rated buildings do indeed satisfy their sustainability aspirations.

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Green Building Certifications• Over a twenty year period a number of green building certifications

schemes or labels have been introduced around the world.• 38 different rating tools certification system worldwide (Reed et al., 2009).

• National and regional ratings established. Eg: BCA Green Mark (Singapore), Green Building Index (Malaysia)

UK EUROPE AMERICAS Rest of the World

Green Star (Australia & NZ)

BREEAM (U.K.) LEED (USA, Mexico, Brazil) LEED (India, UAE, China)

DGNB (Germany) Green Globe (USA, Canada)

CASBEE (Japan)

VERDE (Spain) HK-BEAM (Hong Kong)

BCA Green Mark (Singapore)

ABRI (Taiwan)

GBAS (China)

Green Building Index (Malaysia)

Lotus (Vietnam)

GBTool (South Africa)

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• Use of certification spreading - including Malaysia and Singapore.• Some demonstrating cognisance of the take up and monitoring issues.

World Green Building Council

Membership 2010

Green Building Certifications: A spreading industry..

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• GBI was launched In 2009 - customised to suit the local context including the tropical climate, economic development and the existing type of building stock.

• Non-government voluntary effort by groups such as Malaysia Institute of Architects (PAM) and Association of Consulting Engineers, Malaysia (ACEM).

• Subject to reassessment every 3 years.

Malaysia’s Green Building Index

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Singapore BCA Green Mark Scheme

• Launched in 2005 by the Building Control Authority (BCA)

• Government led scheme.

• The only mandatory certification in the world (Tan, 2008): - all new building works gross floor area of 2,000m2 or more;- additions or extensions to existing buildings which involve increasing the

gross floor area of the existing buildings by 2,000m2 or more; and - building works which involve major retrofitting to existing buildings with

gross floor area of 2,000m2 or more.

• Subject to reassessment every 3 years

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BREEAM, LEED, Green Star, BCA Green Mark

LEED GREEN STAR BCA Green Mark

Scheme

Green Building

Index

Launch Date 1990 1998 2003 2005 2009

Ratings Pass/Good/Very

Good

/Excellent/Outstand

ing

Certified/Silver/

Gold/ Platinum

One Star/Two Star/

Three Star/Four

Star/Five Star/ Six

Star

Certified, Gold,

Gold+, Platinum

Certified, Silver,

Gold, Platinum

Certification

Body

BRE USGBC GBCA BCA GBI

Voluntary

/Mandatory

Voluntary Voluntary Voluntary Mandatory Voluntary

Number of

building

registered/

certified

116,000 certified,

714,000 registered

(1)

40,379 (36,588

USA + 3388

Abroad)(2)

285 Certified, 155

Registered (3)

480 Green Buildings

(4)

12 certified (6

non-residential)

(5)

Certification

Cost*

£740-1,500 £133-11,331 £2,015-4,030 £5,296 – 11,562** £1,014 – 9,125

(5) **

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Reliance on Green Building Certifications

• Growing number of labelling schemes is an indication of the serious intent of those procuring buildings to address sustainability issues.

However,

• Various certification schemes may create confusion amongst stakeholders especially property investors; who purchase buildings in different countries,

• an understanding of the many differences between each market has been increasingly harder to understand (Dixon et al., 2008).

• Unrecognised certification systems as well as lack of coordination or consistency in rating tools are holding back the interests of potential stakeholders (Chan, Qian, & Lam, 2009).

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Previous research :

• Business case benefit of green building certification (Eg: Miller, Spiver, & Florance, 2008; Eicholtz, Kok, & Quigley, 2009)

• Importance certification to market green buildings (see for example Ofori (2004).

• Experts say Green building certification is regarded as important to both international and Malaysian investors, but is of greater importance within the Malaysian context. (Mohd Aini, 2010)

why should this have greater importance within the local context ? Whether or not a ‘one-off’ certification plays any role in enhancing investors’ trusts that a building is truly sustainable.?

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New Vs In-Use

• The earlier versions of BREEAM and LEED (e.g.: LEED-New Construction, LEED-CI) were exclusively awarded at the beginning the design stage.

• Certification is based on estimated points systems instead of the actual

performance of the buildings. Buildings are rated before showing the construction meets design specifications.

We ask how investors can know if a building can/will actually perform throughout the lifecycle and, in short, whether the certification can be

trusted?

• Enter certifications for existing buildings/ in-use (i.e. LEED EBOM, BREEAM In-Use) reassessment introduced.

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Validity and Renewal

Rating Tools Year

Launched

Annual

Surveillance

Recertification/

Reassessment  

LEED-EBOM(previously LEED-EB V.1 and V2.)

2008a

(2002)

unknown Every 1 to 5 Years

 

BREEAM- In Use 2009 Only if necessary

Every 1-3 years 

GREEN STAR Office Existing building)

2007-Pilota n/a n/a 

BCA Green Mark 2005b n/a Every 3 years 

Green Building Index May 2009 n/a Every 3 years 

Source: Compiled by authors

a Yudelson (2010) b BCA (2011)

[1] http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=8876[2] http://www.breeam.org/filelibrary/BREEAM%20In%20Use/SD096_-_Rev_17_BREEAM_In-Use_Scheme_Document.pdf[3] http://www.bca.gov.sg/greenmark/green_mark_buildings.html[4] http://www.greenbuildingindex.org/how-GBI-works.html

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New Vs In-Use

• LEED-New Construction resembles a snapshot of the building’s expected energy and environmental performance during construction and for the period immediately following occupancy.

By contrast LEED-EBOM is more like a movie of actual performance during continuing operation over time of the performance period. Where LEED NC estimates future energy and water use, LEED EBOM actually measures and report them, compared with established standards such as ENERGY STAR and the current plumbing code” (Yudelson, 2010, p. 58)

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Other green certifications ?

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Are not ‘one-off’ certificationsSchemes Year

Launc

hed

Industry Award

Validity/

Renewal

Annual

monitoring/

surveillance

Food Alliance 1997 (formal)

Food/ Agriculture 3 years Yes

Green Seal 1989 Consumer products Varies Unknown

FairTrade 1988 Consumer products (Coffee, Chocolate, Banana, Cotton)

3 years Yes

Marine Stewardship Council-Fisheries-Chain of custody and Restaurant

1997 FishMax 5 YearsMax 3 years

Yes

ISO 14001 Environmental management systems)

1996 Management Systems

3 years Yes

Forest Stewardship Council 1993 Wood Products 5 years Yes

EU Eco-Labels(depending on the product group)

1992 Products / manufacturing/ service providers/ retailers

3-5 years Unknown

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ISO 14001

• ISO was founded in 1947. More than 18,000 international standards that provide practical tools for all three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental and societal (ISO, 2009a).

• ISO 14000 family was introduced in 1996. The most important standards is the EMS specification standard, ISO 14001 = indicator of a company’s commitment to environmental responsibility.

• By the end of December 2009, about 223,149 ISO 14001:2004 certificates had been issued in 159 countries (ISO, 2009b).

• The drivers : – improved public relationships and corporate image (Litkas, 1999; Vastag, 2004) – responding effectively to market demand & different institutional pressures (Jiang &

Bansal, 2003).

• Certified companies performed better financially?

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ISO 14001 process

• ensures the improvement of organisation environmental performance - requires periodic evaluation of compliance with environmental regulations (Jackson, 1997).

• surveillance assessment every 6 months or annually and renewal assessment.

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ISO 14001: Monitoring and renewal

• guarantees organisations uphold their commitments to maintain their Environmental Management System (EMS) and also produce the environmental benefits.” (Potoski & Prakash, 2005).

• strongest impacts behavioural. – The whole process of ISO 14001 makes managers understands that environmental improvement is a

never ending, not a ‘one-off’ process.

But,

• greatest obstacle is the high cost of implementation and lack of available resources. – including time, money, expertise for day-to-day operation and preparing for future annual

recertification audit (Potoski & Prakash, 2005)

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Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

• The only global forest certification.

• Issued 1,041 certificates covering 143,267,679 ha, in 81 countries.

• life limited & valid for 5 years.

• The FSC accredited certification body will conduct annual surveillance audits to verify the continued compliance with FSC certification requirements.

• subject to unannounced checks, which may increase the attentiveness of the manager

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The cost of Certification: a barrier?

• Not cheap! 2 types of cost :– certification process (Direct) – the cost to change management to meet the FSC sustainability

standard (Indirect).

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Fairtrade Mark

• 19 labelling Initiatives in 23 countries. Eg: Fairtrade Mark in UK and Ireland, Transfair in US and Canada, Max Havelaar (in seven

European countries).

• Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) has recently introduced a common label.

• more than 27,000 Fairtrade products sold in over 70 countries (eg: coffee, bananas and chocolates).

• Successful: – consumer awareness of the Fairtrade Mark has exceeded 80% in some

countries. – 15% increase in global retail value, with estimated sales amounting to

€ 3.4 billion.

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• Initially, monitoring was fairly ad hoc and was based on trust that those who registered would uphold their fair trade principles.

• However, as more actors entered the systems, the Fair Trade movement began to realise the importance of a more formal monitoring system and a stricter FLO process (Raynolds, Murray, & Wilkinson, 2007).

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Drawing from 3 successful certifications...

hard work of establishing the certification does not end after certification is being awarded!

Certification:(1) validity is life-limited (2) requires continuous monitoring and renewal assessment

to ensure continuous compliances to their respective standards.

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What can we learn from other certifications?

• Rationale for monitoring & renewal– Continuous compliances Greater confidence in stakeholders– Spot checking increase robustness – Changing behaviour of owner, managers and occupiers.

• Challenges– High Costs : Direct (certification ) and indirect (management etc)– Control issue: Ensuring compliances not easy as building involves

several stakeholders– Data capture and management: importance of updated record, good

record keeping – Requires continuous training : training for personnel focussing on

their roles & responsibilities

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Conclusion

• Early certification schemes not associated with monitoring and were open ended with ‘shelf life’.

• Newly established schemes have introduced renewal assessment.• Recent research: Greater reliance on green building certifications.

• Learning from other certifications Monitoring & Recertification are important in providing greater assurances.

• Moving forward...

a green building certification scheme that does not include monitoring and renewal provisions may not meet the ever

increasingly discerning investors!

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What gets measured gets managed...

andWhat gets measured gets

better...

• a.mohdaini@kingston.ac.uk• s.sayce@kingston.ac.uk

Final comment to ponder