What Is NABERS? A Complete Guide
NABERS is Australia's national rating system for measuring the environmental performance of commercial buildings. This guide explains everything you need to know about NABERS ratings, who needs them, and how to improve your building's score.
Understanding NABERS
The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) is a government-backed initiative managed by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. It provides a standardised, independently verified rating system that measures the environmental performance of Australian buildings, tenancies, and homes against benchmarks derived from actual measured data.
Unlike design-based rating tools that predict performance, NABERS measures actual operational performance using 12 months of real energy, water, and waste data. This makes it one of the most credible and transparent sustainability rating systems in the world. A NABERS rating provides building owners, tenants, and investors with a clear, comparable measure of how efficiently a building is performing relative to similar buildings across Australia.
NABERS Rating Types
NABERS offers ratings across several environmental categories and building types:
- NABERS Energy — Measures a building's energy efficiency based on actual energy consumption data. This is the most common and most recognised NABERS rating.
- NABERS Water — Rates water efficiency based on metered water consumption relative to building size and occupancy.
- NABERS Waste — Assesses waste management practices including diversion rates and recycling performance.
- NABERS Indoor Environment — Evaluates indoor environmental quality including thermal comfort, acoustic performance, lighting, and air quality.
These ratings are available for offices, shopping centres, hotels, data centres, hospitals, and apartment buildings. Each building type has its own benchmarking methodology tailored to its specific operational characteristics.
The NABERS Star Scale
NABERS uses a star rating scale from 1 to 6 stars. Each star level represents a distinct level of environmental performance:
- 1 star — Significant room for improvement.
- 2 stars — Below average performance.
- 3 stars — Average performance.
- 4 stars — Good performance; better than most.
- 5 stars — Excellent performance; market leading.
- 6 stars — Exceptional performance; approaching carbon neutrality for energy ratings.
Who Needs a NABERS Rating?
Under the Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) program, office buildings with a net lettable area of 1,000 square metres or more are required to obtain a NABERS Energy rating and disclose it when the building or space is offered for sale or lease. This is a mandatory requirement under federal law.
Beyond mandatory disclosure, many building owners and investors pursue NABERS ratings voluntarily for several reasons: to benchmark performance against competitors, to demonstrate sustainability credentials to tenants and investors, to identify operational improvements that reduce costs, and to support Green Star Performance ratings and other sustainability reporting frameworks.
NABERS Commitment Agreements
For new commercial buildings or major refurbishments, a NABERS Commitment Agreement allows developers to commit to achieving a target NABERS Energy rating before the building is operational. This is increasingly required by planning authorities, particularly in major CBD developments. The developer engages an accredited NABERS assessor to model the building's expected performance and commits to achieving the target rating within a specified period after occupation.
How to Improve Your NABERS Rating
Improving a NABERS rating involves reducing actual energy and water consumption through operational improvements, equipment upgrades, and behavioural changes. Common strategies include optimising HVAC scheduling and setpoints, upgrading lighting to LED with smart controls, improving building envelope performance, implementing sub-metering and monitoring, and engaging occupants in energy-saving behaviours. An accredited energy consultant can conduct an energy audit to identify the most cost-effective improvement opportunities for your specific building.