Building code checklist for green buildings

Globally, buildings account for 37 percent of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. With increasing urbanization and population growth, demand for energy will continue to increase faster than the supply of renewable energy. This means that increasing the efficiency of current energy use is critical to climate change mitigation efforts while also meeting the development requirement of growing economies. Regulations that can increase the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings are thus vital to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping the increase in average global temperature below 2°C. This checklist aims to facilitate a robust approach to reviewing green building provisions in building regulations by providing a discussion of fundamental green building components of building regulations, and a systematic approach to review green building provisions in regulations.