Future Focus insights: Green Star Future Focus: Three things you need to know

1. Streamlining Green Star certification 

With each evolution of Green Star, the GBCA looks for further enhancements to improve the certification experience and drive down documentation costs. 

This consultation paper asks for industry feedback on several ideas, including a digital submission management platform and a pathway for performance verification that will simplify credits from acoustics to lighting to air quality. 

We’re calling for feedback until 28 February 2020. And remember, this isn’t just about improving the certification process for new Green Star rating tools – we’ll also continue to enhance the experience of existing tools. It’s an ongoing evolution.

2. Green Star for New Buildings draft credits 

A swag of draft credits will be released in December for comment – and many of these are game-changers. 

New carbon credits will support the industry’s ambitious zero carbon agenda, while the new Nature category reimagines the Land Use & Ecology category and ups the ante on biodiversity. 

A Resilience category expands the remit beyond climate risks and challenges the industry to consider broader opportunities for infrastructure and communities.

There’s a lot to take in – but you’ve got plenty of time, with feedback open until 28 February 2020. And you don’t have to comment on every credit – just those that reflect your expertise, experience or particular passion.

3. Green Star for Communities 

Since launching our first rating tool for communities in 2012, we’ve helped create sustainable places and precincts for half a million people.

It’s a huge achievement. Now, as we reinvigorate the rating tool, we need your help to once again to redefine world leadership and best practice for sustainable precincts.

We’re proposing to align the categories of Green Star for Communities with Green Star for New Buildings. New credits will look at carbon through the community lens. A new category, Prosperous, aims to drive innovative approaches to community planning and policy. And new points will be available to incentivise better buildings within the communities themselves.

We’ve extended the deadline for submissions – you now have until 31 December 2019  to give us your feedback.

Our hardworking Manager of Future Focus, Devan Valenti, emphasises the value we place on your feedback.

“With three consultation papers out this year and more to come, we’ve asked for a lot of feedback as part of Green Star Future Focus – but that feedback is at the heart of Green Star’s evolution,” Devan says.

“Working with our members is essential to that evolution. We carefully review and analyse each piece of feedback so that it can inform the development of new credits, categories and rating tools – and to challenge the industry to do better. 

“Green Star can’t continue to drive world leading outcomes without your support, so talk to us.”