Your clients are asking for numbers your contract does not currently produce.

United States

Energy codes, local building performance standards and sector specific ventilation rules.

ASHRAE 90.1 and local codes

The energy standard most state and municipal codes are built on, setting envelope, HVAC, lighting and metering requirements for commercial buildings.

ENERGY STAR benchmarking

Portfolio Manager is the de facto benchmarking system, and a growing number of cities require annual energy and water benchmarking disclosure for buildings above a floor area threshold.

Building performance standards

A number of US cities now go beyond disclosure to mandate performance improvement over time, with penalties attached rather than reporting alone.

Sector specific

Healthcare adds ASHRAE 170, which requires continuous monitoring of operating room temperature and humidity and individual control per room, enforced by CMS and the Joint Commission.

Canada

A national energy code plus the first nationally standardised benchmarking system.

NECB 2020

The National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings sets technical requirements for energy efficient design and construction, applying to buildings of 600 square metres or more, or four storeys or more.

National benchmarking

Natural Resources Canada now operates a national building energy benchmarking initiative, the first nationally standard system built on actual Canadian data for the commercial and institutional sector.

Provincial variation

Codes are adopted provincially, so the operative requirement depends on the province and in some cases the municipality, which is why portfolio owners need per site rather than per country reporting.

What it means operationally

Benchmarking against a national dataset only works if the meter data behind it is complete and attributable, which is where most estates fall short.

United Kingdom

Three separate schemes, and a hard minimum standard arriving in 2031.

MEES

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards target privately rented commercial property. From 2031 all commercial buildings above 1,000 square metres must reach at least EPC band B, subject to exemptions, which makes an unimproved asset progressively harder to let.

ESOS

A mandatory energy assessment scheme for large organisations. Phase 3 participants must submit an action plan and then report progress against it through to 2027, so the obligation is now continuing rather than a one off audit.

SECR

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting requires large companies to disclose energy use, emissions and the efficiency actions taken, inside the annual report.

What it means operationally

ESOS wants an action plan, SECR wants the actions disclosed, MEES wants the asset to actually improve. All three are far easier to satisfy from metered data than from an assessment carried out every few years.

Middle East

Green building systems that are mandatory at permit, plus national net zero pathways.

Al Sa'fat, Dubai

Dubai Municipality's green building system. From 2026 Al Sa'fat Silver is the mandatory baseline for new building permits, with water conservation measures targeting a 30 to 40 percent reduction in consumption.

Estidama Pearl, Abu Dhabi

The parallel Abu Dhabi rating system, written at design stage and increasingly questioned in operation rather than only at handover.

Demand Side Management

Dubai's DSM strategy targets a 30 percent reduction in electricity and water demand by 2030 against business as usual, extending to 50 percent by 2050.

The physical driver

Up to 80 percent of a building's electricity demand in the UAE goes to cooling, and process water is desalinated, so efficiency and cost sit on the same lever. UAE Net Zero 2050 turns plant efficiency into a reported obligation asset by asset.

India

A building energy code, assured ESG disclosure and a live carbon market.

ECBC

The Energy Conservation Building Code sets minimum standards for commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or a contract demand of 120 kVA or more. Compliance is either prescriptive or by whole building performance simulation, with ECBC+ and SuperECBC as higher voluntary tiers.

BRSR Core

For listed entities, energy and water intensity metrics now carry reasonable assurance from an independent provider, which means an assurance partner traces how each number was derived.

CCTS and PAT

The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme is absorbing the PAT mechanism, with compliance obligations already active across energy intensive sectors and BRSR Core data positioned as an input.

Pollution control

CPCB general standards require outlet BOD at or below 30 mg per litre for inland surface discharge, and state boards now operate real time monitoring with strengthened enforcement powers.

Australia

A measured performance rating with mandatory disclosure, which is unusually strict.

NABERS

The National Australian Built Environment Rating System rates buildings from one to six stars in half star increments, based on measured operational performance rather than design intent, for the base building, the tenancy or the whole building.

Commercial Building Disclosure

Mandatory disclosure for large office buildings has been in place since 2011, and the programme has been expanding. It is widely regarded as a global benchmark for built environment transparency.

NCC Section J

The National Construction Code sets the energy efficiency requirements for new commercial building work.

Why it matters here

NABERS is a measured rating, so it is derived from actual metered consumption. A portfolio that cannot produce clean, attributable meter data cannot improve its rating, and in Australia the rating is publicly disclosed.