Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA

This comprehensive review examines sustainable building assessment systems, focusing on Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) like BREEAM and Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) approaches in the context of achieving the United Kingdom’s climate targets. The study highlights significant limi...

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Main Authors: Daniel Anyanya, Andrea Paulillo, Silvia Fiorini, Paola Lettieri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Built Environment
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbuil.2025.1550733/full
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author Daniel Anyanya
Andrea Paulillo
Silvia Fiorini
Paola Lettieri
author_facet Daniel Anyanya
Andrea Paulillo
Silvia Fiorini
Paola Lettieri
author_sort Daniel Anyanya
collection DOAJ
description This comprehensive review examines sustainable building assessment systems, focusing on Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) like BREEAM and Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) approaches in the context of achieving the United Kingdom’s climate targets. The study highlights significant limitations in GBRS, particularly their inadequate focus on embodied carbon emissions and alignment with national climate goals. WBLCA emerges as a promising solution, offering a holistic methodology for quantifying environmental impacts across a building’s entire lifecycle. The research explores the integration of advanced techniques such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), automated data collection, and artificial intelligence to enhance WBLCA’s effectiveness. While WBLCA shows potential in driving the built environment sector towards climate targets, the study identifies challenges including methodological issues, data quality, and the need for standardisation. This article emphasises the importance of aligning building assessment systems with national climate targets and carbon budgets. It concludes by calling for a paradigm shift from static, point-based rating systems to dynamic, quantitative approaches in sustainable building assessment, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and education to support this transition.
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publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
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spelling doaj-art-04c19afd30cb47cc9eb6811a33799e8d2025-08-20T02:04:51ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Built Environment2297-33622025-03-011110.3389/fbuil.2025.15507331550733Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCADaniel Anyanya0Andrea Paulillo1Silvia Fiorini2Paola Lettieri3Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, United KingdomMace, London, United KingdomDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, United KingdomThis comprehensive review examines sustainable building assessment systems, focusing on Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) like BREEAM and Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) approaches in the context of achieving the United Kingdom’s climate targets. The study highlights significant limitations in GBRS, particularly their inadequate focus on embodied carbon emissions and alignment with national climate goals. WBLCA emerges as a promising solution, offering a holistic methodology for quantifying environmental impacts across a building’s entire lifecycle. The research explores the integration of advanced techniques such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), automated data collection, and artificial intelligence to enhance WBLCA’s effectiveness. While WBLCA shows potential in driving the built environment sector towards climate targets, the study identifies challenges including methodological issues, data quality, and the need for standardisation. This article emphasises the importance of aligning building assessment systems with national climate targets and carbon budgets. It concludes by calling for a paradigm shift from static, point-based rating systems to dynamic, quantitative approaches in sustainable building assessment, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and education to support this transition.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbuil.2025.1550733/fullgreen building rating systems (GBRS)whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA)embodied carbon emissionsclimate targetsbuilding information modelling
spellingShingle Daniel Anyanya
Andrea Paulillo
Silvia Fiorini
Paola Lettieri
Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA
Frontiers in Built Environment
green building rating systems (GBRS)
whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA)
embodied carbon emissions
climate targets
building information modelling
title Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA
title_full Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA
title_fullStr Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA
title_short Evaluating sustainable building assessment systems: a comparative analysis of GBRS and WBLCA
title_sort evaluating sustainable building assessment systems a comparative analysis of gbrs and wblca
topic green building rating systems (GBRS)
whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA)
embodied carbon emissions
climate targets
building information modelling
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbuil.2025.1550733/full
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