In the first three years of the new decade, eight representative European countries work together on how to incentivise low environmental footprint, low risk and healthy buildings which are economically viable. We do so by establishing reliable assessment methods into our countries’ market mechanisms and by providing training on both the usage on specific projects and on the integration into (green) procurement criteria. We focus our activities on public authorities with their huge possibilities to leverage the targets.

Raising the recognition of indicators for Life cycle assessment, Life cycle costing and Indoor air quality is the main goal of the project Life for LCA LCC Level(s) in short: LIFE Level(s).

Launched in October 2019 the project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union. The project will last until 2022.

Whether LCA, LCC or IAQ – all of these indicators are essential elements of the DGNB System from the very first beginning and thus the DGNB is a perfect partner in this European project.

What is the project about?

The main idea of the project is to mainstream sustainable buildings in Europe through greater awareness and use of the specified indicators within the framework of Level(s), a set of common EU indicators to address life cycle environmental performance of buildings. Another objective is achieving the greater sense among the main actors in the industry and government on the necessity of Level(s) and a lifecycle approach framework in addressing climate and environmental risk. Also, the conditions for alignment of Europe’s leading green building certification schemes with Level(s) would be possible through building the capacities of stakeholders across the whole sector, integrating the public authorities in order to align Green Public Procurement criteria with Level(s) and identifying necessary administrative and data requirements.

Strategically divided project actions are conceived in order to achieve the best results and develop the capacities for incorporating Level(s) into public procurement and raising awareness of Level(s).

DGNBs task: Finalising mapping procedure and developing a mapping tool

One of the first actions was to link Europe’s main Sustainable Certification System and Green Building Rating tools to Level(s) key indicators. The DGNB, leading this project action, has completed the mapping procedure to be used in assessing compliance of green building rating schemes with Level(s). To achieve a methodological approach in assessing the conformity level, detailed for LCA, LCC and IAQ, a mapping tool has been developed.

Follow this link to download the mapping tool.

European consortium

The partners on the execution of the project are some of the most recognizable Green Building Councils across Europe, notable for their success in governance, inclusiveness and market impact. In line with that, the consortium is made up of Green Building Council España (GBCe), Croatia GBC, Dutch GBC (DGBC), Alliance HQE-GBC, GBC Finland (FiGBC), GBC Italia, German Sustainable Building Council and Irish GBC (IGBC). It is worth to note that the project partners have been actively involved in developing Level(s) into public procurement criteria and supporting its development.

You will find all information about the project on the website and at a glance in the flyer – including the possibility to subscribe to the project newsletter.