BCA Green Mark 2021 (2nd Edition): Singapore's green building rating

What Green Mark is for

Buildings account for a large share of Singapore's electricity use, and in a tropical climate most of that goes on cooling. A rating scheme built around heating seasons and insulation would measure the wrong things. Green Mark is BCA's answer: a certification framework calibrated to tropical conditions.

Scheme versions, and the retroactive switch

The important operational detail: from 1 June 2024, all projects are assessed using the 2nd Edition documents, including ongoing projects whose applications were submitted before 1 June 2024. A project team working from 1st Edition criteria after that date is working to superseded requirements.

The six assessment sections

1. Energy Efficiency, including Super Low Energy pathways
2. Whole Life Carbon - operational carbon plus embodied carbon, meaning the emissions locked into the concrete, steel and glass before anyone moves in
3. Resilience - climate adaptation and greenery
4. Intelligence - smart building technology
5. Health and Wellbeing - indoor environmental quality
6. Maintainability

The inclusion of whole life carbon is the most consequential change in recent editions. Once embodied carbon counts, refurbishing an existing building can outperform demolishing and rebuilding it, which is a very different conclusion from the one an operational-energy-only scheme reaches.

Building categories

Four separate scoresheets apply:

• Non-Residential Buildings (NRB)
• Existing Non-Residential Buildings (ENRB)
• Residential Buildings (RB)
• Existing Residential Buildings (ERB)

Rating tiers: Green Mark award tiers are commonly cited, but the tier names were not confirmed from the BCA source reviewed during research, so they are not listed here. Confirm them in the Green Mark 2021 technical guide before relying on a specific award level in a contract or tender submission.

Where Green Mark fits in policy

Green Mark supports the Singapore Green Building Masterplan and its "80-80-80 in 2030" goals:

• 80 per cent of buildings by gross floor area to be green by 2030
• 80 per cent of new developments by gross floor area to be Super Low Energy buildings from 2030
• 80 per cent improvement in energy efficiency for best-in-class green buildings over 2005 levels by 2030

Note that the "80-80-80" framing belongs to the Green Building Masterplan, not to the Green Mark scheme documents themselves. Cite it to the Masterplan.

Separately, since 2010 developments on Government Land Sales sites in selected strategic areas have been subject to higher Green Mark standards. Government land sales are one of the strongest levers available in a city where the state is the dominant landowner.

Green Mark versus the mandatory regime

Green Mark is a certification scheme. It is voluntary in general, though it becomes effectively compulsory through Government Land Sales conditions, tender requirements and financing terms.

That is different from the Mandatory Energy Improvement regime and the Building Control (Environmental Sustainability) Regulations, which impose legal duties on existing building owners regardless of whether they seek certification. Both are covered separately on this site. A building can be legally compliant without being Green Mark certified, and vice versa.