A Comparison about European Environmental Sustainability Rating Systems

Abstract

With the arising of environmental problems from the construction sector, the sustainability issues gained more space, making sustainability assessment tools emerge. These tools are based on the global definition of sustainability that meets Environmental, Economic, and Social criteria, and each system has a different and peculiar methodology. This paper aims to analyse the structure adopted by these European sustainability assessment systems: BREAM UK, DGBN (Germany), ITACA (Italy), LiderA (Portugal), and HQE (France), showing an overview of each system assisted by the SWOT Matrix, enabling the reader to better understand their differences. There are no superior or inferior systems, but each system notably performs much better in a subject or goal.

Keywords

• sustainability building
• breeam uk
• dgbn
• lidera
• itaca
• hqe
• environmental certification
• swot analysis