Offsetting and BREEAM

Below are the BREEAM credits featuring a net zero carbon component, with brief explanations of each. Credits related to the New Construction, In-use, and Refurbishment and Fit-out schemes can be identified by their respective abbreviations: NC, BIU, RFO.

 

Management
This section aims to implement practices that encourage sustainable environmental design and performance throughout the project, from concept and construction to the handover and aftercare phase of a project.

“Man 01, Project brief and design” requires project delivery stakeholders to consider the final design of a building during the initial project phases. The credit aids the definition of commitments to net zero during this credit by helping with the briefing, strategising and execution of key project objectives. NC, RFO

“Man 01, Building user guide” promotes use of the building in the way its designers intended, including operation of building services, which will reduce the operational carbon used over the course of the building’s lifecycle. BIU

“Man 02, Life cycle cost and service life planning” promotes outlining the financial viability of a project by delivering a project with long-term, whole-life value through life cycle costing. The credit targets the reduction of building maintenance costs and specifies robust, hard-wearing materials that seldom need replacing, resulting in lower overall embodied carbon over the life cycle of a building. NC, RFO

“Man 02, Management engagement and feedback” ensures building managers understand how to efficiently operate the building, including building services that can affect the operational carbon of the building over its life cycle. BIU

“Man 03, Responsible construction practices” encourages the management of construction sites that are environmentally and socially responsible and accountable. To achieve net zero, it aims to reduce pollution associated with construction site activities, such as excessive movement of vehicles. It also ensures the use of responsibly sourced timber and timber-based products during the construction process, meaning no net loss of oxygen-producing, carbon dioxide-absorbing trees as a result of site activity. NC, RFO

“Man 03, Maintenance policies and procedures” aims to recognise and encourage best practice building maintenance practice, reducing the need to replace or refurbish items which carry an associated carbon cost. BIU

“Man 04, Commissioning and handover” ensures the building functions correctly and responds to the needs of occupants. The credit aims to highlight and rectify fabric defects leading to draughts or other conditions that might intensify energy use. It also verifies the validity of checks and sign-off on building services to certify any on-site renewables or low carbon technology. NC, RFO

“Man 04, Environmental policies and procedures” aims to recognise and encourage implementation of the best environmental management provisions and ensure these are in place and acted on. BIU

“Man 05, Aftercare” provides an opportunity to iron out any issues identified from use of the building. The credit facilitates the testing of building performance at full load in order to uncover any performance gaps, including low carbon technology, fabric efficiency, and HVAC systems. NC, RFO

“Man 05, Green lease” aims to encourage the implementation of lease agreements that contain incentives to actively engage tenants in consideration of energy efficient practices. BIU

Health and Wellbeing
This section promotes the health, wellbeing, and safety of building users by awarding credits for designs that create a healthy, safe, and comfortable internal and external environment.

“Hea 04, Thermal comfort” aims to provide building occupiers with control over the temperature. By conducting a full thermal analysis of the building, design teams create a more comfortable and safer environment for building occupants, while reducing the economic and carbon costs due to wasted heat or energy-intensive systems such as air conditioning. NC, RFO, BIU

Energy
Energy is a crucial category with many credits available to boost an overall assessment score. Energy efficiency, lighting, transport systems, and renewable energy sources are key actions that can reduce a building's operational carbon emissions.

"Ene 01, Reduction of energy use and carbon emissions" targets reducing energy demand and consumption to lower CO2 emissions. Improving building fabric efficiency can help buildings achieve net zero status, as 37% of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from the built environment. NC

“Ene 01-09, Asset energy calculator” aims to minimise operational energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency of the building fabric and of installed services. BIU

"Ene 02, Energy monitoring" encourages installing energy sub-metering to accurately measure energy use and understand when and where it's used. This helps reduce energy consumption by identifying areas of high use. NC

"Ene 03, External lighting" aims to reduce the energy consumption of outdoor lighting by specifying energy-efficient fittings. NC

"Ene 04, Low carbon design" promotes adopting design features to minimise carbon output and achieve net zero buildings. The focus is on passive measures, low-carbon services, and low-carbon technology. NC

"Ene 05, Energy efficient cold storage" addresses the environmental impact of refrigeration systems by reducing energy consumption and refrigerant usage. NC

"Ene 06, Energy efficient transportation systems" aims to encourage energy-efficient transportation systems such as lifts, escalators, and travelators, reducing their associated CO2 output. NC

"Ene 07, Energy efficient laboratory systems" promotes designing laboratory areas to minimise energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This leads to reduced costs and emissions. NC

"Ene 08, Energy efficient equipment" promotes using energy-efficient unregulated equipment and emissions for optimal performance and energy savings. Enhancing knowledge of energy consumption from unregulated sources such as swimming pools, server rooms, and appliances helps reduce the performance gap. NC, RFO

“Ene 09, Drying space” aims to reduce the necessity of using energy to dry clothes and other household fabrics. This reduces the carbon used by a building in its operational phase. RFO

“Ene 10, Demand side management (DSM) capabilities for electricity” aims to reduce carbon emissions associated with grid supply electricity by enabling electricity demand profiles to better match the availability of renewable electricity generation sources. BIU

“Ene 11, Installed controls” aims to reduce operational energy consumption and associated carbon emissions by installing appropriate controls to reduce unnecessary energy consumption. BIU

“Ene 12, Local energy performance asset rating” recognises operational energy efficiency and carbon benefits associated with benchmarking against local energy standards. BIU

“Ene 13, Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels” aims to minimise carbon emissions through on-site renewable energy generation from photovoltaics. BIU

“Ene 14, Solar thermal panels” aims to minimise carbon emissions through on-site renewable energy generation from solar thermal. BIU

“Ene 15, Monitoring energy uses” aims to reduce operational energy consumption through the effective management and monitoring of energy consumption for different building services and building services systems. BIU

“Ene 16, Monitoring tenanted areas” aims to reduce operational energy consumption through the effective management and monitoring of energy consumption in separately tenanted areas. BIU

“Ene 17, External lighting” aims to minimise operational energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions from energy efficiency of external lighting. BIU

“Ene 18, Energy efficient transport systems” aims to minimise operational energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions from energy efficient transport systems. BIU

“Ene 19-21, Operational energy calculator” aims to minimise operational energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency of the building fabric and of installed services. BIU

“Ene 22, Energy audit” aims to identify and implement cost-effective opportunities for energy and carbon savings. BIU

“Ene 23, Energy consumption data use” aims to minimise operational energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions by encouraging measurement against energy performance targets and by increasing the awareness and understanding of energy consumption amongst building managers and users. BIU

“Ene 24, Reduction of carbon emissions” aims to recognise reductions in operational energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions achieved. BIU

Transport
The transport section aims to improve accessibility and promote sustainable modes of transportation to reduce CO2 emissions.

“Tra 01, Transport assessment and travel plan” identifies ways to reach net zero transport emissions through site assessment, travel solutions, and increased awareness and accessibility of transportation options and local amenities. It encourages design teams to consider future occupants' travel needs and improve site and road safety. NC

“Tra 01, Sustainable transport solutions” looks to identify where good public transport infrastructure exists and encourages their use. This helps to reduce the amount of fuel used by internal combustion engines for building occupant transport.  RFO

“Tra 01, Alternative modes of transport” aims to maximise the potential for alternative local public, private and active transport modes through provision of sustainable transport measures appropriate to the site. BIU

“Tra 02, Sustainable transport measures” promotes public transport, active travel, electric cars, and enhanced local amenities to reduce carbon emissions and improve user health. NC, BIU

“Tra 02/03 (RFO/BIU), Proximity to amenities” rewards projects that review the building's access to local services and where necessary enhances existing services. This reduces CO2 related to building occupants. RFO, BIU

“Tra 03, Cyclist facilities” promotes building users to cycle, reducing carbon emitted by unnecessary use of cars, reducing the buildings associated operational carbon. RFO

“Tra 04, Maximum car parking capacity” promotes a maximum number of car parking spaces for private vehicles to encourage other forms of transport which emit less carbon. RFO

“Tra 05, Travel plan” recognises accommodating a range of travel options for building users, to reduce reliance on forms of transport with high levels of associated CO2. RFO

Materials

The "Materials" category promotes the use of sustainable products with reduced environmental and social impact. It evaluates the entire life cycle of construction products, from production to disposal, and emphasises efficiency, environmental impact, responsible sourcing, and durability.

“Mat 01, Building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)" aims to reduce the environmental impact of construction products by encouraging the selection of products with a lower environmental impact, reducing embodied carbon over the building's life cycle. NC, RFO

“Mat 02, Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)" encourages the availability of reliable data on the impact of construction products by providing an EPD. This helps improve the accuracy and reliability of LCA’s during design and post-construction phases and enables architects to make more sustainable product choices. NC

“Mat 03, Responsible sourcing of construction products," facilitates the selection of products with lower environmental, economic, and social impacts across the supply chain. All timber must come from verifiably sustainable sources, and the creation of a sustainable procurement plan must reduce impacts such as carbon emissions, including procuring local materials to reduce transportation-related CO2. NC, RFO

“Mat 04, Insulation” encourages the use of thermal insulation which has a low embodied environmental impact relative to its thermal properties. RFO

“Mat 05, Designing for durability and resilience" promotes the specification of features that reduce damage to high-traffic parts of buildings, and avoid material replacement, which lowers embodied carbon. NC, RFO

“Mat 06, Material efficiency" encourages avoiding unnecessary material use in building design, optimising material efficiency, promoting high recycled content materials, and minimising waste. Lower material use means less offsetting is needed to achieve net zero emissions. NC, RFO

Waste

The Waste category focuses on minimising waste during the demolition, design, and construction process and throughout a building's life cycle. It covers waste management, reporting, reduction, and diversion from landfills. Unused resources that can't be reused, recycled, or used to generate electricity represent a loss of resources and harm the environment as they decompose and pollute.

“Wst 01, Construction waste management” aims to reduce waste in construction through best practice waste management, reuse, and recovery of materials, and prevent them from being sent to landfills. This reduces environmental degradation and pollution and conserves resources. Conduction of a pre-demolition audit ensures the reuse of as many materials as possible from existing buildings, and that unused materials are properly disposed of. NC, RFO

“Wst 02, Use of recycled & sustainably sourced aggregates” reduces the use of aggregates from faraway sites and minimises the amount of aggregates sent to landfills. The credit is easier to achieve by reusing as much aggregate as possible and procuring the rest from local, abundant sources, reducing transportation costs and earth extraction. NC, RFO

“Wst 03, Operational waste” minimises waste sent to landfills during a building's operational phase. This reduces environmental impacts and disposal costs and encourages waste sorting for easier reuse and recycling. Recommendation of waste compactors/balers for buildings generating consistent, large amounts of operational waste cuts down on the number of trips needed for transportation. NC, RFO

“Wst 04, Speculative finishes (office only)” reduces waste associated with unnecessary floor and ceiling installations in rental buildings. Preventing unnecessary installations reduces waste and embodied CO2 associated with procurement, installation, removal, and disposal of speculative materials. NC, RFO

“Wst 05, Adaptation to climate change” minimises future building remediation by considering extreme weather conditions during design and construction. This increases building resilience and reduces renovation, transportation, installation, disposal costs and CO2 emissions. NC, RFO

“Wst 06, Design for disassembly & adaptability” rewards ease of asset adaptation and disassembly, allowing for easier material reuse or reclamation. This aligns with circular economy principles, reducing environmental degradation, resource depletion, and energy use. NC, RFO

Land Use and Ecology
Primarily focused on maintaining and increasing biodiversity as a result of land development, the land use and ecology section does not directly aim to achieve net zero. This does not mean that design teams should ignore it for projects aiming for net zero. Increasing biodiversity has many beneficial indirect effects.

A higher level of biodiversity leads to environments that are resilient to the effects of climate change. By encouraging development on brownfield sites, undeveloped land remains in a natural state, further improving biodiversity. Plants may then also continue to respire, by turning ambient CO2 into oxygen. This further reduces the net CO2 a project is responsible for.

Pollution

Pollution causes serious harm to the environment, including land, water, and air. Refrigerants used in building services contribute to atmospheric pollution, while local air quality affects the health of building occupants and nearby communities. This section covers all types of pollution, including light, sound, and water.

“Pol 01, Refrigerant impact” minimises greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerant leaks. Refrigerants used in air conditioning units and heat pumps can be thousands of times more potent than other gases. Full marks are awarded for avoiding refrigerants altogether. NC, RFO, BIU (Pol 04)

“Pol 02, Air quality” reduces air pollution from fuel combustion in building appliances, such as boilers, heat pumps, combined heat and power (CHP) plants, and space heaters. While these devices have a relatively small impact compared to other CO2 sources, they can cause tropospheric ozone. This can lead to health problems, decreased crop yields, and acid rain. NC, RFO, BIU (Pol 03)

“Pol 05, Refrigerant leak detection systems” aims to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions related to the leakage of refrigerants, a potentially major local source of pollutants. BIU

Resources

This category encourages the responsible, circular use of physical resources in assets to improve value and sustainability. By understanding a building's condition, owners can maintain and improve it.

“Rsc 01, Condition survey” helps owners understand the condition of their buildings. Early detection of potential repairs, refurbishments, or renovations saves time and money and reduces embodied carbon. BIU

“Rsc 02, Reuse and recycling facilities” promotes the reuse, repurposing, and recycling of waste from assets. This limits waste, supports the circular economy, and reduces CO2. BIU

“Rsc 03, Resources inventory” allows owners to understand and maintain the value of resources in their assets. This can reduce the use of new resources and lower energy consumption. An inventory of materials helps with the disassembly, reuse or reselling of materials at the end of a building's life. BIU

“Rsc 04, Future adaptation” assesses a building's design and construction to accommodate future renovations. Flexible designs, accessible plant, and easy building extensions reduce the need for major renovations and the use of new, carbon-intensive materials. BIU

Resilience
The resilience category focuses on proactively managing hazards and their risks. This category considers physical risks, climate-related risks and opportunities, watercourse pollution, material damage, and physical security. To enhance asset and community resilience, risk management and contingency plans are essential.

“Rsl 01, Flood risk assessment” identifies and prevents future flooding. Improving rainwater infiltration reduces the risk of property damage and reduces the embodied carbon of the property. BIU

“Rsl 03, Natural hazard risk assessment” assesses the risks of natural hazards and provides mitigation strategies to recover efficiently after a damaging event. By conducting a survey, the asset owner can avoid future damage and replacement of materials, saving money and reducing embodied carbon. BIU

“Rsl 04, Durable and resilient features” specifies features to reduce damage to vulnerable parts of the building. Avoiding material replacement during the life cycle of a building lowers its embodied carbon. BIU

“Rsl 05, Alarm systems” ensures assets are equipped with alarm systems to raise awareness of potentially carbon-intensive damages, such as intrusions, fires, and loss of goods. BIU

Innovation
The innovation category rewards assets that go above and beyond the requirements of BREEAM credits. From water to waste, or energy to materials, innovative and novel design features that exhibit the principles of sustainability and align with BREEAM, are rewarded with a maximum 10% boost in the overall assessment score. NC