Integrating Sufficiency in Sustainable and Green Building Rating Tools - The Sufficiency Investigation, Gain and Notification (SIGN) Framework

Sufficiency can be defined as a situation when a purpose has been achieved, a need has been met and a desired and optimal state has been achieved. In terms of sustainability, it is seen as a strategy for achieving human needs without exceeding the Earth's planetary boundaries. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified sufficiency as having a critical role in achieving climate targets. Sufficiency is also increasingly being integrated in national energy and sustainability strategies. However, sufficiency has not been included as an explicit factor in sustainable and green building rating tools. This study investigates the implications of sufficiency for these tools. It develops a sufficiency framework for the built environment and uses this to evaluate a sustainable building rating tool, the Sustainable Building Assessment Tool (SBAT). The evaluation finds that while sufficiency is acknowledged implicitly in the tool, this concept is not addressed explicitly. The study recommends that existing SBAT criteria be modified. It also recommends that new criteria with a sufficiency focus be developed. Implications of these recommendations for other green building rating tools are shared. The paper concludes that the concept of sufficiency has an important role to play in meeting sustainable development and climate change targets and should integrated into sustainable and green building rating tools.