At NABERS, we know that sustainable buildings are not only better for the planet, but they also make happier and healthier spaces that we can all thrive in.
NABERS (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.
Since 1998, we have proven that “What gets measured gets managed.” Our customers have reduced their energy use by an average of 30-40% over a 10 year period.
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 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 comparable buildings in the same sector, 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 demonstrated over time.
- Competitive edge: Enables building owners to communicate simply and with confidence that their building has a lower environmental impact and running costs to 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
New to NABERS? Start here!
You can be on your way to receiving your first NABERS rating in 5 simple steps:
- Learn more: If you're looking for more information on how NABERS works, its benefits and what's involved in the rating process, we have a wealth of resources including fact sheets, case studies and videos.
- Check the spaces we rate: See if your building is in a sector we currently rate. We are constantly expanding to new sectors, se please contact us if we're not operating in your sector yet.
- Estimate your rating: Use the NABERS rating calculators to get an idea of how well your building or tenancy is performing. Results are an indication only and cannot be promoted or published.
- Find an Assessor: Search for a NABERS Assessor to complete your accredited rating.
- See our pricing and offers: Understand costs involved and see what offers are currently available.
For more information about NABERS ratings, contact us at nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au.