To help the buildings sector achieve its net zero ambitions, the European Commission has created Level(s), a common language system for assessing and monitoring the sustainability of buildings, from design to end life, for a range of stakeholders including construction professionals, designers, architects, owners and investors, as well as policymakers and public authorities.

Level(s) can be applied at any stage of a building’s lifecycle to assess, manage, report on, and compare sustainability performance, using a framework that is recognised throughout the European Union (EU) and grounded in circularity principles.

Level(s) indicators are increasingly helping to shape EU legislation too. For example, Level(s) is referred to in the Commission’s recent proposed revisions of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the Construction Product Regulation and the Energy Efficiency Directive. It is referred to in the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy too. That means using Level(s) can help you stay compliant.

Visit the European Commission's Level(s) website to find out more about how Level(s) can benefit your buildings projects. Once you understand the basics, you can get started with using Level(s) in your working environment by accessing the free Level(s) eLearning programme and a calculation and assessment tool (CAT) to help you when using the framework. The eLearning programme includes a detailed case study to help you understand how to use Level(s) in typical scenarios. 

While Level(s) has been developed with the European buildings and real estate sectors in mind, it is freely available to download and use worldwide.