Green Star Technical Clarification Rulings
Technical Clarifications for Green Star represent our answers to Technical Questions submitted by projects, and provide further guidance and reference to others. The list is regularly updated.
There are two types of Technical Clarifications listed in the table below:
General Clarifications
These are extensions to the guidance provided in the Submission Guidelines. They clarify and sometimes supersede the original Credit Criteria or
Compliance Requirements. General Clarifications set precedent for future project teams to follow. Should a project team wish to apply a general clarification to its project, there is no requirement for further Technical Questions to be submitted. NZGBC Assessors will also use them as precedents to assess submissions.
Project Specific Clarifications
These are published as references for other projects but, unlike General Clarifications, they do not set precedent. They often relate to special
situations where multiple prerequisites exist for a particular project and are less likely to reoccur to another project. Therefore, rulings set for Project Specific Clarifications are often conditional and will likely vary for other projects. Each project still needs to submit its own Technical Questions and provides evidence relating to its own building in order to have a similar ruling approved for that specific building.
Should you wish to apply any Technical Clarification for legacy rating tools to your projects, please submit a Technical Question to the NZGBC to
explain why and how it applies. You can access the online Technical Question form here
| Technical Question Title | Tool Version | Date Released | Credit Name | Sub-credit Name | TC Link |
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| Construction and Demolition Waste Reporting Criteria v2.0 and Template | Green Star Buildings NZ, DABv1, DABv1.1 | July 2026 | 22 - Construction and Demolition Waste, 2 - Responsible Construction | Construction and Demolition Waste | Link |
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Approved Ruling: NZGBC has launched a dedicated Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste Resource Hub, providing Green Star project teams with access to the latest guidance documents, reporting templates, and supporting resources.
As part of this release, NZGBC has published the Construction and Demolition Waste Reporting Criteria v2.0 (WRC v2.0). Effective immediately, all Green Star projects pursuing the C&D Waste or Responsible Construction credits are required to use the new Green Star C&D Waste Credit Template when preparing and submitting evidence for assessment.
Key implementation dates are as follows:
Project teams should be aware that the revised methodology may result in lower reported diversion rates for some projects. This is because WRC v2.0 requires mixed C&D waste recovery performance to be reported separately from overall facility recovery rates. This does not necessarily reflect poorer recovery performance, but rather a more transparent and accurate reporting methodology.
To avoid unexpected impacts on project outcomes, NZGBC encourages project teams to engage with their Waste Contractor and CDSF early in the project lifecycle to understand how the revised methodology may influence diversion targets and credit achievement.
The C&D Waste Resource Hub will be regularly updated as new guidance, templates, and industry resources become available.
Green Star C&D Waste Resource Hub: https://nzgbc.org.nz/construction-demolition-waste
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| Daylight Roof Strips in Industrial Projects | Green Star Buildings NZ | July 2026 | 11 - Light Quality | Link | |
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Approved Ruling: For industrial projects, daylight roof strips may be accepted as a compliant alternative solution to the requirement for blinds providing glare reduction across at least 95% of viewing façades and skylights, provided the roof strips are constructed from polycarbonate or a similar translucent or opaque material. Where clear or transparent roof strips are installed, glare control measures or glare modelling must be provided to demonstrate compliance. |
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| Base Building Contributions for Blinds | Green Star Buildings NZ, DABv1, DABv1.1, INTv1.1 | September 2026 | 12 - Visual Comfort, 11 - Visual Comfort | Glare reduction | Link |
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Approved Ruling: Where blinds are used to meet compliance requirements, they must be provided, either wholly or in part, by the base building owner for both Cold Shell and Warm Shell tenancies as part of the lease agreement. As a minimum, the base building owner is required to provide the blind boxes, or a mutually agreed equivalent value contribution.
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| Treatment of Electricity in Environmental Declarations | Green Star Buildings NZ, DABv1, DABv1.1 | September 2026 | 19 - Life Cycle Assessment/Impacts, 21 - Upfront Carbon Emissions | Link | |
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Approved Ruling: The attached Technical Clarification document sets out how NZGBC will treat the electricity component of environmental declarations when those declarations are used to substantiate product environmental performance in NZGBC rating tools and databases. It applies to all forms of third-party environmental declaration, including but not limited to Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) under ISO 14025 and EN 15804, Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) under ISO 14067, and any equivalent product-level declarations submitted to support rating tool credits. It addresses the specific question of how electricity consumed in New Zealand is to be modelled and disclosed, and the conditions under which contractual instruments (NZECS certificates, RECs, GOs, I-RECs, or PPAs with bundled environmental attributes) may be reflected in the figures NZGBC uses for rating tool calculations. This clarification does not change the underlying programme rules of the International EPD System, EPD Australasia, the GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067, or any other framework. It governs only how NZGBC interprets and uses declared figures for the purposes of its own rating tools. |
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