CASBEE Certification System
For accreditation of the assessment result, we have two authorization systems. One is the certification system, and another is the local governments' reporting system. The later is the system that the local governments review the assessment result by CASBEE tools in a shorter time than the certification, thus it is usually regarded as a semi-certification system.
Certification system
1) Certification for Buildings
CASBEE Certification for Buildings is a system in which a third party examines and certifies assessment results provided by CASBEE for New Construction, Existing Buildings, and Renovation. An application for certification must be accompanied by assessment results provided by a CASBEE Accredited Professional for Buildings. Since the system started in 2004, over 300 buildings throughout Japan have so far been certified. A certificate and the emblem shown below are issued to certified buildings.
- Target: CASBEE for New Construction, Existing Buildings, Renovation
- Certification body: Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation (IBEC) and 12 private institutions approved by IBEC
- Number of certified buildings: 330 (as of July 2016)
2) Certification for Housing
CASBEE Certification for Housing is a system in which a third party examines and certifies assessment results prepared in accordance with CASBEE for New Detached Houses. An application for certification must be accompanied by assessment results provided by a CASBEE Accredited Professional for Housing.
- Target: CASBEE for New Detached Houses
- Certification body: Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation (IBEC) and 5 private institutions approved by IBEC
- Number of certified houses: 119 (as of July 2016)
3) Certification for CASBEE for Real Estate
Certification for CASBEE for Real Estate is a system in which a third party examines and certifies assessment results prepared in accordance with CASBEE for Real Estate. An application for certification must be accompanied by assessment results provided by a CASBEE Accredited Professional for Real Estate. The certificate is expected to be used when buying and selling real estate in the future as evidence that clearly demonstrates the building's environmental performance.
- Target: CASBEE for Real Estate
- Certification body: Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation (IBEC) and 11 private institutions approved by IBEC
- Number of certified buildings: 92 (as of July 2016)
Fig17. Cumulative numbers of the certified buildings (as of March 2016)
The certified buildings list is shown in the following link. (Japanese page)
http://www.ibecs.or.jp/CASBEE/certification/certification.html
Reporting system by local governments
Currently, 24 Japanese local governments employ the "Sustainable Building Reporting System (SBRS)" regulation targeting the commercial sector and housing sectors. For buildings, planning is important as they exist for a very long time once built. The system incorporates environmental performance assessment for buildings before construction. Through the system, a number of buildings are assessed for environmental performance; therefore, the system is expected to drive the market toward further sustainability.
The system requires large building owners to submit a building environmental plan and the government to publish said plan on the website. The purpose of the system is to encourage building owners to carry out voluntary efforts to reduce environmental load and create a market that will highly value environmentally sound and high-quality buildings and structures. The outline of SBRS is as follows:
The government publishes the environment-conscious measures to be taken by building owners and their evaluation on its website.
The government may provide some incentives to help building owners carry out voluntary measures.
Figure 18 shows local authorities that have introduced SBRS. Under the required ordinances and guidelines, building owners are asked to carry out a comprehensive assessment of their buildings' environmental performance when a building above a certain size is newly constructed.
Fig18. Utilization of CASBEE in local governments
Fig19. Number of buildings reported to local governments (as of March 2015)