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Data language for ecological analysis of real estate

share:    Updated:2024-02-28 00:00:00

Like all other economic sectors, the real estate industry in Germany faces immense challenges in terms of sustainability and climate protection. On the one hand, the benchmark for this is the Federal Government's goal of achieving greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. On the other hand, elements of the EU's Green Deal, above all the Taxonomy Regulation, require a rethink.

Sustainable real estate only possible with data

Digital data is essential to sustainably develop, plan, build and operate real estate according to the required ESG logic (i.e. in terms of environment, social, governance). This includes the collection and recording of building-specific data, for example with regard to circularity, pollutants, or environmental pollution. Furthermore, consumption data in operation, which is now as real-time as possible, and, of course, location-based data in connection with soil, water, temperature, but also air pollution and natural hazards, also play an important role in assessing sustainability.

Although specific data already exist on individual aspects of the ecological performance of buildings, the survey, but also the data themselves do not yet follow any industry-wide uniform logic or logic. Structure and can therefore only be evaluated case-based. As a result, the ESG status quo is often not recorded uniformly and only insufficiently, is not operationalized for the implementation of the climate targets at the property level and thus property cannot be managed sustainably and climate-neutral.

Problem solver DIN SPEC 91475

This is where DIN SPEC 91475, published by the German Institute for Standardization (DIN), comes in. It identifies and defines possible data points for aspects of ecological sustainability. These include, for example, the climate risk of a site, the resource consumption of materials used or the CO₂ intensity of the operation. The new standard structures, names and defines data points that can be used to assess the ecological quality of a building, regardless of the ESG standard and the type of use of the building. The data points are neutral and can be combined to suit the specific needs of different assessments of the E (Environmental). They form the basis to which other systems can refer and enable transparency: because the data points are available uniformly everywhere in accordance with DIN SPEC 91475.

This common data language is aimed at banks, investors, project developers, planners, construction companies, asset and fund managers, real estate owners and developers, platform operators, associations and service providers as well as manufacturers of IoT technologies and PropTech companies. Based on DIN SPEC 91475 and through the cooperation of all parties involved in the analysis, evaluation and systematic ecological transformation of existing buildings, new areas of application and systems are to be created and thus significant progress in terms of sustainability and climate protection achieved.

Dr. Uwe Forgber, founder and CEO of Realcube and initiator of DIN SPEC: "DIN SPEC 91475 represents a big step in terms of digitization and sustainability of the real estate industry. The unified data language will make it possible to exchange and analyze important data and surveys in real time. In doing so, we lay the foundations for an actual ecological analysis of real estate holdings. "

The consortium partners

The standard was developed by a high-calibre consortium of experts from the following organizations: Fraunhofer Institute for Labour Economics and Organization (ILO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen – DGNB e.V., blackprintpartners GmbH, Madaster Germany GmbH, 21 Real Estate GmbH, Realcube GmbH, LIST AG, Lookthrough AG, pom+ Deutschland GmbH, white energy GmbH.