This year we celebrated World Green Building Week on 16 October with the seminar "Green building certification - practices and benefits in the ESG context", initiated by our long-standing members Triple Green Building Group Bulgaria. The event was organized by BSDG with the kind partnership of RPHI and the Association of Business Building Owners in Bulgaria. The seminar took place at the office of our hosts Wolf Theiss in Business Park Expo 2000.

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Our speakers were Arch. Vessela Valtcheva-McGee, former BGBC chairperson and present Board member, Director Market Development ЕЕ, GBCI Europe, LEED Fellow, BREEAM International Assessor, DGNB Auditor, EDGE Auditor and Arch. Boyka Ognyanova, Director ESG and Training at Triple Green Building Group Bulgaria, Certified LEED, BREEAM, WELL and EDGE Auditor, guest lecturer at University of California Berkeley Extension, USGBC Faculty.

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The event was opened by Ms. Adina Welsh, BGBC Chairperson and Executive Director of RPHI Bulgaria, who stressed the importance of green building certification not only in relation to ESG disclosure, but also as a way to add value to the real estate assets.

She was followed by Arch. Vesela Valcheva-McGee who presented the most popular green building certification tools, developed by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the leading independent non-governmental organization in the green business industry: LEED, TRUE, SITES, PEER, IREE, Parksmart and WELL. She also introduced the EDGE system, formally administered by GBCI and developed by the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group).

Arch. McGee explained the synergy between the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and green building certification in three key directions:

1.Efficiency in data management: having a clear system for managing the vast amount of data required by the CSRD is essential. Tracking hundreds of data points across different divisions is not feasible with Excel. Green building certification provides both quality data collection and data management.

2.Create a common language within the organization regarding sustainability is critical. This not only aids in unlocking information but also in driving change. Green building certification provides a clear pathway across sectors and countries.

3. Early preparations, as the CSRD reporting is very time-consuming. External expertise can help avoid pitfalls and develop an effective approach that not only meets reporting requirements but also contributes to broader sustainability goals.

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Arch. Ognyanova made a comparison between the methods of the most used worldwide certification tools, namely LEED, BREEAM, WELL, ARC and EDGE systems, as well as the system for assessing the sustainability of real estate and infrastructure, GRESB - Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, which in 2019 becomes part of GBCI. The second part of her presentation focused on the direct link between building stock certification and its positive impact in ESG reporting. ESG disclosure as well as green building certification provide a framework for measuring and reporting sustainability in its three main dimensions -environmental, social and governance. The growing need for these reports is driven by new requirements in the European Union for corporate reporting that encourage the adoption of ESG standards such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which makes ESG reporting progressively mandatory for a growing number of companies.

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The event ended with a celebratory cocktail reception for World Green Building Week.

 

Triple Green Building Group Bulgaria, RPHI, Wolf Theiss and Association of Commercial Building Owners, thank you once again for your support!