Commonly used rating tools

The most commonly used rating tools for sustainability in Australia are:

• Green Star, which is operated by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), and adopts a more holistic assessment of a building’s impact on the environment;
• The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) which is managed nationally by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), (a division of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet) on behalf of the Australian state and territory governments. NABERS measures an existing building’s environmental performance during operation; 
• the IS Rating Scheme (IS) which is managed across Australia and New Zealand by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA). IS evaluates the sustainability performance of infrastructure development according to four categories: Governance, Economic, Environmental and Social; and
• the Nationwide House Energy Rating System (NatHERS), which is administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water on behalf of the states and territories. NatHERS rates the energy efficiency of homes on a scale between 1 and 10.