Certification counts

What can fake Will Smith spaghetti videos teach us about sustainability claims?

“Green Star equivalent” sounds harmless enough. A shorthand way of saying a project was designed with sustainability in mind, even if it never pursued formal certification.

In Green Star’s early days, when rating tools covered a narrower band of buildings and certification pathways were still maturing, that phrase wove its way through project briefs, consultant reports and procurement discussions.

We always knew we had a problem. As far back as 2013, we were calling out organisations that wanted all the benefits of a Green Star-rating without committing to certification.

In a 2022 Green Building Voice column, I argued the market could not rely on equivalency claims, “because all that glitters is not green”. At the time, Australia’s competition watchdog had stepped up scrutiny of greenwashing, and questions once dismissed as industry semantics had surfaced in broader policy and procurement discussions.

Buildings are long-life assets. Sustainability claims influence planning approvals, investment decisions, operational costs, tenant expectations, climate disclosures and finance. Phrases like “aligned to Green Star” or “designed to Green Star benchmarks” are not casual industry shorthand. Without independent verification, those claims can mislead.

This year, the World Economic Forum ranked misinformation and disinformation second only to geopolitical conflict among the world’s most serious short-term risks. Unsurprising, then, that 82% of Australians distrust environmental or social claims made by companies, even while most consumers say those claims influence their purchasing decisions.

Which brings me to Will Smith.

In 2023, one of the internet’s favourite examples of early generative AI was a bizarre video of Will Smith eating spaghetti. His face warped unpredictably and it looked obviously fake. Three years later, AI-generated video has evolved so rapidly that faux Will Smith can hold a realistic conversation while convincingly devouring bowls of pasta.

No-one seriously believes AI will conjure phantom buildings that only exist in the ether. But when sustainability narratives and claims can be generated in seconds, independent verification matters more, not less.

That’s why we’ve launched the Certification Counts campaign. This formal guidance around equivalency claims, sustainability language and the risks of self-assessment is for developers, project teams, government agencies and consultants engaged to work on sustainable building projects. (We have a great video of Nick Alsop, our Senior Manager of Market Engagement, unpacking the issue too).

“Green Star equivalency” attempts to borrow the trust created by Green Star without fully participating in the system itself. As digital capability accelerates, we must strengthen the systems that give markets, governments and communities confidence in the outcomes being promised.

There are signs of this in the Federal Budget, including free standards access, circular economy reform and improvements to the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards scheme. These may seem like disconnected initiatives, but together reinforce the importance of trusted systems, verified performance and consistent frameworks.

And just this week, GBCA contributed to the ACCC’s review of its greenwashing guidance, including making recommendations around the role of independent third-party certification in strengthening market confidence.

Equivalency claims can emerge from good intentions. But without independent assessment, good intentions can be value-engineered out, diluted during delivery or simply lost between design and construction.

The most exciting buildings being delivered today are strengthened by certification, not constrained by it. Take UNSW’s CBD campus, a 5 Star Green Star Interiors project featured in this month’s Green Building Voice, as a prime example. Certification was a way to “walk the talk”, as UNSW’s Melissa Nouel notes.

“Walk the talk” may be a familiar phrase, but it articulates something new about synthetic sustainability. In a world of deep fakes and false claims, Green Star certification provides confidence that real people set ambitions, designed with imagination and intent, challenged one another and collaborated to innovate. It is proof that their work was rigorously checked, and that their evidence was interrogated and verified so that what was promised delivered real results. That’s why certification counts.