Buildings should be rated by their real energy use, rather than by what they’re projected to use

Why NABERS could be the next big thing for sustainable buildings in Poland
As the real estate industry continues to deal with energy efficiency and carbon reduction targets, a new certification standard is gaining traction in Europe – and it could be a game-changer for the Polish market.

NABERS (the National Australian Built Environment Rating System), is a performance-based rating system for buildings. It redefines how we assess energy efficiency – not by design intent, but by actual results.

NABERS was developed over 20 years ago in Australia to measure the real-world environmental performance of buildings. Unlike well-known certifications such as BREEAM or LEED, which are largely based on projected or design-phase data, NABERS bases its ratings entirely on measured operational performance. Since 2010, all Australian government offices must be housed in buildings with a NABERS rating, and since 2017, such ratings are mandatory when leasing or selling office spaces over 1,000 m².

The system’s effectiveness led to its introduction in the UK in 2020, under the name NABERS UK. Importantly, this expansion wasn’t driven by regulators – it came from developers and investors. These industry players recognised that traditional certification schemes were no longer providing a competitive edge and weren’t necessarily translating into real energy savings once buildings became operational.

NABERS uses a straightforward one-to-six star rating system, where one star represents basic performance and six stars indicate market-leading energy efficiency. To receive a rating, a building must be at least 75% occupied and have 12 months of verifiable energy usage data. The certification is valid for one year, encouraging regular audits and continuous performance improvement. In Australia, this approach has led to significant reductions in operational costs and energy use across the building sector.

For buildings in the design or construction phase, NABERS UK offers a Design for Performance process. This rigorous pathway supports developers through advanced energy modelling and simulations, ensuring that buildings are designed and constructed to achieve targeted energy outcomes in real-world operation. An independent expert panel reviews the design models to validate their feasibility – turning projected performance into a verified commitment.

NABERS vs. BREEAM and LEED: What’s the difference?
The key distinction lies in what is being assessed. In terms of energy efficiency, BREEAM and LEED primarily evaluate the potential energy use of a building based on its design, construction materials, and projected performance. These certifications are typically awarded before a building is fully occupied or operational, which means they don’t reflect actual energy consumption or carbon emissions.

NABERS, on the other hand, takes a ‘show me the data’ approach. It evaluates a building’s environmental impact using real energy meter data – capturing the difference between theoretical efficiency and real-life performance. This method removes the guesswork and assumptions, providing investors, tenants, and regulators with an honest picture of how a building actually performs.

What’s more, the modelling outputs of the BREEAM and LEED assessments can vary in accuracy depending on the expertise of the consultant. It can also be skewed by a specific methodology that the assessment must follow – which may not be fully representative for the Polish building stock, or local regulations. In contrast, NABERS Design for Performance includes a mandatory, independent verification stage – eliminating the potential for result manipulation and focusing on deliverable outcomes. 

This transparency pays off. Studies have shown that 35% of LEED-certified buildings use more energy than their uncertified counterparts. Meanwhile, in the UK, buildings with high NABERS ratings (five stars or above) lease faster and command rental premiums of 8–10%, reflecting growing tenant demand for proven sustainability.

What will it take to bring NABERS to Poland?
Introducing NABERS to Poland won’t happen overnight. The UK rollout took two years and involved extensive collaboration between the Australian NABERS team, CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, which administers NABERS UK), and local experts.

The same will be needed in Poland. First, key market players – developers, asset managers, and investors – must recognise the value of performance-based certification and be willing to invest in the process. Encouragingly, initial conversations suggest there is growing interest, particularly as BREEAM and LEED have become standard across over 90% of modern office space in Poland. In a market saturated with these labels, NABERS offers a new way to stand out.

Second, a Polish version of NABERS would require the formation of a local governance structure, involvement of technical experts to localise benchmarks and methodologies, and training programmes to build up a pool of qualified assessors.

Finally, it will take commitment, funding and time. But in a world increasingly focused on tangible sustainability outcomes – not just paperwork – NABERS offers a robust, credible pathway forward.

A certification for the future
In an era where greenwashing is under growing scrutiny, and ESG reporting is becoming mandatory across the EU, NABERS could be exactly what the Polish real-estate market needs. By rewarding actual energy performance, it aligns financial and environmental incentives, builds trust with occupiers, and helps cities meet carbon targets more effectively.

Bringing NABERS to Poland would be a bold move – and a timely and necessary one. It’s time for the industry to move beyond promises and start measuring what truly matters.

About the author
Michał Wójcik is a Sustainability Associate at Cundall. He leads a multidisciplinary team specialising in sustainable building design, advanced energy modelling, energy audits, and certification consultancy for schemes including LEED, WELL, BREEAM and NABERS UK. A graduate of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology, Michał brings ten years of experience working on international commercial and infrastructure projects across Europe and beyond.