The construction and real estate industry faces major challenges to contribute to a sustainable and circular economy that meets the objectives of the EU Green Deal and the Paris Agreement. To meet these challenges, new and expanded instruments based on regulations, laws and standards are required. These should measure and improve the environmental performance of building materials, construction products and buildings as early as the planning phase and monitor them during operation. There is also a need for economic models that promote material efficiency and the recycling of resources. Various organizations in the EU are working on the development and implementation of these measures in order to lead the construction and real estate industry into a greener, smarter and more innovative future.
There are numerous initiatives and instruments that assess the environmental performance of buildings, such as the EU energy label, the EU Ecolabel, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR), the Construction Product Regulation (CPR), the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and the Level(s) initiative. Switzerland cooperates with the EU in various areas of the European Green Deal and will align itself with the European requirements.
This white paper highlights the interrelationships between these various instruments. The integration of environmental performance into all planning, construction and operation processes is highly relevant for sustainable and circular economy aspects. With the introduction of Digital Building Logbooks (DBL) and Digital Product Passports (DPP), important instruments on the environmental and social performance, origin, composition, quality and reusability of buildings and construction products are being introduced.
These efforts are of great importance for the digital networking of construction product data, as interoperable and machine-interpretable data is based on reliable standards and classifications. Digitalization plays a key role in the modern construction and real estate industry. Tools such as the digital logbook or the digital product passport are crucial for the collection and management of data over the life cycle of a building or construction product. They enable transparent and efficient management of information that is essential for sustainability and the circular economy.
Standards and services from buildingSMART International (bSI) are crucial for the harmonization of digitalization in the construction and real estate industry. They enable the interoperability and compatibility of digital tools and platforms, which are essential for efficient data management and use as part of the above-mentioned measures. One important service is the buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD), which provides a standardized way of working for data quality, information consistency and interoperability. By using the bSDD, information management becomes more transparent and efficient, which is crucial for sustainability and the circular economy.
The legal and normative foundations that the EU and Switzerland will introduce over the next few years form an essential basis for digitally networked construction product data. Implementing these principles will be a challenge for the construction and real estate industry as well as manufacturers of construction products and building materials. Ultimately, the speed at which these requirements are implemented will be key to achieving the medium-term climate targets by 2030.
Conceptually, the path has already been laid out with the EU’s Green Deal, but a great deal is still unclear in detail and will only be defined in the coming years.
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