Dear Colleagues, 

The concept of sustainability has been around for decades, though has more recently come to the forefront in the built environment through the proliferation and uptake of rating tools used to assess, measure, and capture the sustainability impacts of homes, commercial buildings, and precincts. Some tools deal with singular aspects whilst other tools have been developed with broader and holistic objectives covering multiple environmental, social, and financial considerations. Much research has gone into the development of these tools, and literally hundreds of different rating tools and systems are found globally. However, some key tools have gained substantial traction in commercial and residential buildings and community development, namely LEED, BREEAM, Green Star, and Energy Star, to name but a few.

Rating tools in the built environment have been variously utilised as forms of ‘sticks’ or ‘carrots’; either as minimum standards requirements and/or incentivised best practice, either directly or indirectly. They have been applied in numerous formats around the world by various levels of government as a mandatory approach to ensuring minimum standards, or for reporting against aspirational levels of energy efficiency or sustainability. Meanwhile, industries have grasped certain tools that have been utilised to differentiate their product, firm, and clients from those of their competitors, in addition to receiving the financial benefits that can be achieved. 

The purpose of this Special issue is to explore and open up the discussion on the less frequently considered aspects of:

• How these tools have been used, and their varying success as a mandatory or voluntary instruments;
• Closing the loop—investigations on the relationships between the typically design-orientated tools, the actual as-built form, and the operational performance as well as what can be learned from increased analysis across the lifecycle;
• The value implications over time of having sustainably rated buildings and obsolescence issues;
• Implications for the market—are consumers and other stakeholders being bamboozled by rating systems, especially Stars, that they are losing their meaning, leading to less trust in these systems; and
• The challenge of how existing credentials of well-known rating tools or new tools for the built environment can be leveraged to generate broadscale change to tackle climate change challenges and mitigate and adapt to form more resilient built environments. 

This Special Issue will contribute to the continuing global development of rating tool analysis and implementation, and perhaps identify pathways for more holistic approaches to the development, usability, and application of sustainability rating tools that make a real difference for improved environmental, social, and financial outcomes as well as in emissions reductions and generating greater resilience in response to the challenges of climate change.

Dr. Georgia Warren-Myers
Dr. Christopher Jensen
Guest Editors

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• Sustainability 
• Rating tools 
• Green Buildings 
• Built Environment mitigation and adaptation