Involvement of Sustainable Building Alliance in the VCS (voluntary certification scheme) project

The European Commission launched a call for tender to work out the technical development and the operational requirements of the VCS. A consortium headed by the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) (project leader), with the contribution of Sustainable Building Alliance (BRE, DGNB, CSTB, IVE) and Bureau VERITAS was awarded. The project started at October 2015 and will end October 2016.

A first workshop took place in Paris on January 14 and the SB Alliance members discussed the conclusions on January 15 during the VCS steering committee meeting. SB Alliance, as member of the VCS steering committee, check and debate on the technical and organizational aspects of the future VCS.

Context

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is the main legislative instrument at EU level to achieve energy performance in buildings. The EPBD (article 11-9) requires the Commission to adopt, in consultation with the relevant sectors, a voluntary common European Union certification scheme (VCS) for the energy performance of non-residential buildings.

Multinational property owners and developers, financial institutions (including UNEP-FI) and building professionals are demanding international standardisation and uniform conditions in energy performance certification in order to enhance the comparability, transparency, coherence, reliability and accuracy in the Union.

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