Net Zero Centre of Excellence
Emirates Green Building Council launched the Net Zero Centre of Excellence in 2018 as a think tank and accelerator to advance net zero carbon buildings in the UAE as part of its commitment to World Green Building Council’s global Advancing Net Zero Project.
- provide a platform for government, academia, civil society and the private sector to learn and share knowledge on net zero buildings,
- support future building regulations and the industry towards decarbonization of the building sector by the global timeline of 2050,
- offer tools and resources to advance the net zero movement in the UAE.
The summarised objectives and actions of the Centre can be viewed through our Snapshot.
To promote rapid decarbonisation, EmiratesGBC challenges businesses and cities in the UAE to sign the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.
Definition for Nearly Zero Energy Residence and Office Buildings
A Nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) in the UAE as a highly energy efficient building with a site Energy Use Intensity less than 90 kWh/m2/year which covers a significant portion of its annual energy use by renewable energy sources produced on-site or offsite.
Research
As an important stepping-stone to the achievement of a net positive built environment and a decarbonized economy, EmiratesGBC launched a first-of-kind report in the MENA region on zero buildings in 2017. The report, Defining Nearly Zero Energy Buildings in the UAE – 2017, provides a definition for nearly zero energy buildings in the UAE and highlights the challenges and opportunities for net zero buildings in the UAE.
Key findings from the report included:
- The concept of nZEB strongly aligns with and supports the UAE National Vision and commitments, particularly with respect to innovation in sustainable energy.
- Early adopters of the concept of Zero Energy Buildings in the UAE already exist with a number of demonstrable cases in the market. This validates that the time is appropriate to transition from an ‘early adopter’ state to ‘mainstream adoption’.
- Stakeholders generally agree that the market will be ready for the adoption of the nZEB concept between 2020 and 2030.
- In accordance with international practice and stakeholder feedback, it is recommended to commence with the introduction of the concept in the public sector prior to roll out in the private sector.
- Based on the large number of high-rise buildings in the UAE, it is recommended to consider renewable energy beyond the plot boundary within the nZEB consideration. This can take the form of district renewable energy systems or potentially extend to regulated Renewable Energy Certificates.
Certifications
In 2019, Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) partnered with the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) to deliver Zero Energy (ZE) and Zero Carbon (ZC) certifications for buildings in the UAE market.
Zero Energy Certification
“One hundred percent of the building’s energy needs on a net annual basis must be supplied by on-site renewable energy. No combustion is allowed.”
Zero Carbon Certification
“One hundred percent of the building’s energy needs on a net annual basis must be supplied by on-site renewable energy. No combustion is allowed.”
In cooperation with ILFI, and based on the Building Efficiency Accelerator Benchmarking Project Report, projects in the UAE may use the efficiency targets in the table below (in the far right column) in lieu of the standard efficiency targets stated on the Zero Carbon page. Because the referenced report only considers data from hotels, schools, and malls, other building types must demonstrate a 30% reduction in energy use in comparison to a typical building of its type through Zero Tool or other proposed data set. Regardless of the dataset chosen, the version or baseline year of the dataset should be explicitly referenced and remain static so that energy targets are predictable for teams considering the standard.
| Project Type | Median EUI | 30% Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel and Hotel Apartments | 249 kWh/m2/year | 174 kWh/m2/year |
| Resorts | 334 kWh/m2/year | 234 kWh/m2/year |
| Schools | 134 kWh/m2/year | 94 kWh/m2/year |
| Malls | 465 kWh/m2/year | 326 kWh/m2/year |
For more information on the certifications, please refer to ILFI’s ZC certification pages.
Certification Process
Register your project with the ILFI.
- Process your Premium Membership with ILFI.
- Log into the Living Future Community and scroll down to the ‘Register’ section, then select ‘New Zero Energy Registration’ or ‘New Zero Carbon Registration’. Create a new submission for the desired certification program, complete the required registration form, and complete registration payment.
- Schedule a kick-off call with your project team and ILFI’s energy program staff to discuss best practices for certification at support@living-future.org (for Zero Energy) or zc.support@living-future.org (for Zero Carbon).
Registering your project signals your intent to build and certify your project as zero energy or zero carbon. We encourage to register your project as early in the development/occupancy process as possible. When you register your building, you’ll gain access to a variety of support resources, along with the opportunity to connect with industry leaders from around the world.
Fees
You must be ILFI Members to register your project. Read more about ILFI Membership here.
You can find out about the certification costs here.
Documentation
Audit
Certification
Embodied Carbon
As operational carbon is reduced, embodied carbon will continue to grow in importance as a proportion of total emissions. While it is important to address operational carbon, the industry must now rapidly increase efforts to tackle embodied carbon emissions at a global scale, too. To support the industry, the World Green Building Council released a report, Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront, with the following vision:
Embodied Carbon Vision
By 2030, all new buildings, infrastructure and renovations will have at least 40% less embodied carbon with significant upfront carbon reduction, and all new buildings are net zero operational carbon.
By 2050, new buildings, infrastructure and renovations will have net zero embodied carbon, and all buildings, including existing buildings must be net zero operational carbon.
EmiratesGBC Partnership with Bionova Ltd, developer of One Click LCA
EmiratesGBC has partnered with Bionova Ltd, developer of One Click LCA. The partnership is based on raising awareness around embodied carbon with an objective of transforming the market towards low carbon design, construction and manufacturing practices. To facilitate this, Bionova is offering the One Click LCA Planetary free of charge.
The software has several capabilities which allows:
- Calculation of material and carbon efficiency (A1-A3 stages)
- Carbon accounting figures (Global Warming Potential)
- Comparison of different material options during design for key construction materials
- Access to local Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)
- Covers top 10 material categories (Bricks, ready-mix concrete, structural precast concrete, glass (regular), gypsum board, cement, insulation (normal types), steel, aluminium, engineered and normal wood)
- Designers, consultants, and other users to be request EPDs from manufactures
We invite the industry to explore its capabilities further through their website.
Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment officially launched at the Global Climate Action Summit on 13th September 2018. The commitment challenges companies, cities, states and regions to reach Net Zero operating emissions in their portfolios by 2030, and to advocate for all buildings to be Net Zero in operation by 2050.
Several EmiratesGBC’s members including AESG, Arup, Buro Happold, Cundall, JLL, Majid Al Futtaim, Mott MacDonald, Multiplex, Siemens and Shaw Contract have signed the commitment. To see the list of committed businesses, click here. For businesses, the Commitment is one of three pathways available to join EP100 from The Climate Group.
To see the list of committed cities, click here.
To see the list of committed states and regions, click here.
The five stages of the Commitment:
Eligibility requirements
Signatories must demonstrate an equivalent level of ambition and impact as the leadership required by the Commitment. A signatory may demonstrate this ambition and impact through the following one or any of the following:
- international presence to stimulate global markets
- significant presence in their country
- significant capacity to influence the built environment
- high level of carbon emissions within their sector relative to an average entity, and/or
- high potential for advocacy to increase uptake within industry
Within the UAE, eligibility will be assessed by EmiratesGBC and finalised by the Advancing Net Zero team of WorldGBC during the recruitment process. Where necessary, eligibility will be further determined by members of the WGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment Taskforce.
If interested in signing up for the Commitment, please contact EmiratesGBC at info@emiratesgbc.org.
Delivery Partners
WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment is delivered in partnership with The Climate Group as a membership pathway to EP100. Delivery partners include C40 (cities) and the Under2 coalition (states and regions), for which The Climate Group is secretariat, recruiting signatories from their respective networks.