Sustainability at International and European Level
The United Nations' Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, published in 2015, comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These global goals encompass economic, ecological and socio-cultural development aspects and thus also partially affect the construction industry. A sustainability strategy was adopted at the European level in 2001 and revised in 2006. The EU-Commission has also published strategies, measures and indicators to measure the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
German Sustainability Strategy
Germany has set itself ambitious goals on the road to a fairer and more environmentally compatible global development. These are set out in the National Sustainability Strategy and are regularly reviewed and updated. One of the aims is to achieve an almost climate-neutral building stock by the middle of the century. This goal can only be achieved if buildings are planned and constructed in a sustainable way - i.e. energy-efficient and climate-friendly - today. Progress is regularly reviewed and presented in reports.
The Government as a Role Model
The federal government bears a great responsibility in implementing the sustainability goals - both as the owner of its own buildings and as a role model and initiator for other public and private building owners. The Federal Building Ministry has therefore developed a set of instruments in the form of the Guideline Sustainable Building Guideline for Sustainable Building and the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB) Assessment System for Sustainble Building (BNB), which enables the sustainability of buildings to be taken into account holistically and defines a quality assurance procedure - mandatory for federal buildings, but also applicable to other public and private building projects. After completion of a construction project, sustainability can be transparently documented according to defined criteria and evaluation standards and also be incorporated into an organisation’s sustainability reporting.
Office for Sustainable Building at the BBSR
For its numerous activities and active policy advice on sustainable building, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community has entrusted the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) with the management of the "Office for Sustainable Building". By publishing and updating the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB), the BBSR supports the federal government's national Sustainability Strategy in the construction sector and promotes the implementation of the Guideline for Sustainable Building in federal construction and beyond.
