At NABERS, we know that environmentally friendly buildings are not only better for the planet, but they also make happier and healthier spaces that we can all thrive in.
NABERS (which stands for the National Australian Built Environment Rating System) provides simple, reliable, and comparable sustainability measurement you can trust across building sectors like hotels, shopping centres, apartments, offices, data centres, and more.
Over the last 20 years, we have proven that “What gets measured gets managed.” Our customers have saved an average of 30-40% on their energy over 10 years.
Our rating system has driven financial growth and solid returns in portfolios across building sectors. It has directed corporate procurement by clearly demonstrating their operational performance and sustainability achievements.
A NABERS rating helps you to accurately measure, understand, and communicate the environmental performance of your building while identifying areas for cost savings and future improvements.
What is NABERS
NABERS is a simple, reliable sustainability rating for the built environment. Like the efficiency star ratings that you get on your fridge or washing machine, NABERS provides a rating from one to six stars for buildings efficiency across:
- Energy
- Water
- Waste
- Indoor environment
This helps building owners to understand their building’s performance versus other similar buildings, providing a benchmark for progress.

NABERS ratings are valid for twelve months. This annual model helps ensure that your rating represents a building or workplace’s current operational performance.
NABERS has partnered with Climate Active to provide a Carbon Neutral certification.
A NABERS rating helps building owners to accurately measure and communicate the environmental performance and progress of buildings. It also identifies areas for savings and improvements.
Why do we need to rate buildings?
The built environment has a significant global environmental impact and is a contributor to climate change.
Buildings are responsible for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions and use approximately:
- 40% of the world’s energy
- 30% of the world’s available drinking water.
Environmentally friendly buildings are better for the bottom line, better for staff and clients, and better for the planet.
Benefits of a NABERS rating
- Compare: NABERS ratings form the basis of a robust sustainability strategy. They provide a fair benchmark for a building’s energy and water efficiency, enabling comparison across the industry.
- Validate and communicate: NABERS provides cost-effective, high-trust, and independent validation of sustainability data, ensuring confidence in reporting it publicly and communicating it simply.
- Track and improve: NABERS star ratings are an essential framework for annual reporting and sustainability strategies. With annual ratings, performance improvements and reduced energy and emissions can be delivered over time.
- Competitive edge: Having a building that has a lower environmental impact, lower running costs, and being able to communicate that simply and with confidence gives building owners a competitive advantage with prospective buyers, renters, procurement teams, or hotel guests.
NABERS key principles
NABERS is Australia’s leading building performance rating due to its integrity of methods, transparency of the process, and accountability to the industry.
NABERS is built on the following 7 key principles which help us maintain our quality of service.
- We measure actual impact, not intent
- We are relevant to building operations
- Our ratings are meaningful
- Our ratings are simple and easy to perform
- Our ratings are reliable
- Our management is trustworthy
- Our development is collaborative