A key component of our understanding of sustainability is the certification of many our fund properties. This involves assessing the sustainability of our properties throughout their entire life cycle and optimising it using environmentally friendly technologies, always with a view to economic efficiency.
Sustainability certificates offer the opportunity to measure and compare compliance with sustainability criteria. This is done using nationally established and internationally recognised certification systems. At a time when the sustainable use of resources, the avoidance of CO2 emissions and health and well-being are more important than ever, certification systems offer a way of improving and verifying the sustainability quality of buildings through certification.
Based on the three important pillars of sustainability - ecology, economy and social aspects - various certification systems with a range of assessment criteria for sustainable buildings have been developed to optimise projects specifically during the planning and construction stages as well as during ongoing operation
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The topics covered by all common certifications include materials and resources, energy and water, indoor environmental quality and sustainable site design, and resilience, to name just the most important ones. While there are many similarities in terms of topics, local conditions and market differences are also considered.
LEED® stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It was developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council® (USGBC) on the basis of the British BREEAM certification system. LEED® is the most internationally recognised sustainability label for buildings and defines a series of standards for environmentally friendly, resource-conserving and sustainable construction.
With LEED®, all building types can be assessed in terms of their sustainability over their entire life cycle (planning - construction - operation). Furthermore, urban neighbourhoods, infrastructure projects and even entire cities can be certified according to LEED®. The Homes system variant is used for residential buildings. More than 197,000 buildings in 186 countries have now been certified.
The assessment is based on a scoring system. There are also minimum requirements (prerequisites) that must be met for a building to be certified. Furthermore, minimum programme requirements must be fulfilled. No points are awarded for the fulfilment of these minimum requirements. Points can be allocated as desired to the remaining criteria (credits).
A maximum of 110 points can be achieved. Depending on how many points are scored, the following certification levels can be achieved:
In the current version v5, the LEED system evaluates the sustainability of new buildings and modernisations in the following seven main categories and one additional category.
This involves promoting first-class, cost-effective project results through early analysis of the interrelationships between building systems. Furthermore, the new version v5 (from 2025) introduces new minimum requirements, including a climate risk analysis, an analysis of the project's impact on people (known as a risk assessment) and the CO2 emissions associated with the project over its life cycle.
This category is concerned with the sustainable and equitable development of the site and the protection of habitats. The proximity to public transport and local amenities as well as the promotion of environmentally friendly transport solutions have a positive impact on the assessment.
The aims of this category are to promote sustainable and resilient land use, e.g. by reducing the heat island effect and light pollution or through sustainable rainwater management. The accessibility of outdoor spaces and the improvement of biodiversity at the site are also relevant. There are also minimum requirements for sustainable construction site operation in this category.
The aim of this category is to reduce the consumption of drinking water by making indoor and outdoor facilities as water efficient as possible and by using rainwater or grey water.
The energy and atmosphere category has the greatest weighting in the certification process. In addition to the energy efficiency of the building and its technical systems, the focus here is on minimising CO2 emissions. It is therefore a minimum requirement to draw up a decarbonisation roadmap for the building and to indicate the date of climate neutrality. It also involves fundamental and enhanced commissioning, environmentally friendly refrigerants, renewable energies, the avoidance of peak loads and the promotion of electrification, including the grid-compatibility of buildings.
The new version v5 places a greater focus on the circular economy with the minimum requirements for drawing up a life cycle assessment and a plan to minimise waste during operation. In addition to waste management, the reuse of materials, the reduction of environmental impacts, the absence of harmful substances and the reusability of materials are of great importance.
The aim of this category is to improve indoor air quality and user comfort through, for example, an adequate ventilation strategy and daylight supply, quality of views, thermal and acoustic comfort. The absence of pollutants in the interior spaces, their accessibility and inclusive design as well as resilient design also play a role.
In this category, points are awarded for priorities, i.e. special sustainability qualities, as well as for supervision by a LEED® Accredited Professional.
Resource consumption (energy, water, and waste) plays a key role in the assessment of existing buildings. A survey is used to determine the well-being of users and the environmental friendliness of the building's transport links. In addition, indoor air quality is checked by means of measurements and an energy audit is carried out.
Although the assessment of existing buildings focuses primarily on performance, the new version v5 introduces a number of minimum requirements that take current developments into account. These include a climate risk analysis, an assessment of the impact on people (known as a risk assessment) and the mandatory introduction of management processes during operation that include proactive and regular maintenance.
A climate protection roadmap must also be drawn up to make the building climate neutral. There are also points for the regular adjustment of building services (known as recommissioning), load management, the switch to environmentally friendly refrigerants, sustainable building cleaning and resilient surfaces, to name but a few.
LEED and its logo are a trademark owned by the U.S. Green Building Council and used with its permission.
