Initiatives to Obtain Green Building Certification

DBJ Green Building Certification aims to encourage the spread of real estate (“green buildings”) that takes into account environmental performance and disaster preparedness, as well as the societal needs of various stakeholders, including local communities. This is assessed using a proprietary scoring model developed by Development Bank of Japan Inc., resulting in selected properties that address the needs of the times being given a ranking of 1 to 5 on a 5-star scale.

CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) is a comprehensive system, created under the leadership of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, for evaluating the quality of buildings. In addition to the original goals of reduced energy consumption and the use of building materials with low environmental impacts, it also takes into account the comfort of the interior and the landscape.

The CASBEE certification awarded by the Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation and its designated certification bodies consists of four evaluation tools: CASBEE for Pre-Design, CASBEE for New Construction, CASBEE for Existing Building, and CASBEE for Renovation. These are used to provide an evaluation on a five-grade scale: Superior (S), Very Good (A), Good (B+), Slightly Poor (B-) and Poor (C). CASBEE certification for real estate for buildings whose construction was completed at least one year ago consists of an evaluation on a four-grade scale (S, A, B+, or B), which is in turn based on an assessment spanning five different categories: energy/greenhouse gases, water, materials, biodiversity/sustainable site, and indoor environment.

BELS is a third-party evaluation system that displays the energy-saving performance of buildings. From April 2016, real estate companies and other entities are required to make efforts to display the energy-saving performance of buildings based on the Act on the Improvement of Energy Consumption Performance of Buildings (“Building Energy Efficiency Act”). The specific method of display is set out in the energy conservation performance display guidelines for buildings prescribed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and BELS is assessed based on these guidelines and rated on a 5-star scale.

ZEB (Net Zero Energy Building) is a building that aims to achieve a zero energy balance through substantial reductions in annual primary energy consumption. This is achieved by saving as much energy as possible via better thermal insulation of the building and highly energy efficient equipment, etc., coupled with creating energy by solar power generation or other energy generating methods, while maintaining a comfortable environment. In the BELS certification system, the certification of the level of ZEB is presented in four stages: “ZEB,” “Nearly ZEB,” “ZEB Ready,” and “ZEB Oriented.”