How the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is Reshaping Real Estate

The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is an industry-led initiative created to establish a unified, science-based definition of what constitutes a net zero carbon building in the UK. Developed collaboratively by leading built environment institutions, the standard provides measurable performance benchmarks for operational energy, embodied carbon, renewable energy generation, and whole-life building performance across both new and existing assets.

In this episode, Katie Clemence-Jackson, CEO of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, explains how the initiative emerged in response to growing industry confusion around the meaning of “net zero” in real estate. She shares how the standard was developed through one of the largest collaborative efforts the UK property industry has undertaken, involving hundreds of volunteers, technical experts, institutions, and thousands of building data points.

The conversation explores how the standard works in practice for both existing buildings and new developments, including operational energy limits, embodied carbon reporting, annual verification processes, and why measured in-use performance sits at the centre of credible net zero strategies. Katie also explains why the standard intentionally incentivises retrofit-first approaches and how many existing buildings may be closer to achieving net zero alignment than the industry currently assumes.

We also discuss how the standard could influence wider areas of the real estate ecosystem, including sustainable finance, valuation, investment strategy, and future regulation. Throughout the episode, Katie offers a highly practical perspective on the future of net zero real estate, the importance of industry-wide consistency, and why better data, accountability, and collaboration will play a defining role in shaping future-resilient buildings and portfolios.

‍

Episode Chapters

00:00 Katie’s background in engineering and sustainability

05:10 The performance gap and what shaped her net zero thinking

10:35 Why the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard was created1

8:20 How the standard defines net zero buildings

26:45 Existing buildings, retrofit, and operational performance

35:10 Embodied carbon, data collection, and verification

42:30 New developments and designing for net zero from day one

49:20 Net zero claims, industry consistency, and transparency

56:40 Sustainable finance, valuation, and future-proofing assets

01:03:10 The future vision for the standard and UK real estate

‍

About Katie Clemence-Jackson

CEO of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Katie leads the delivery and industry adoption of the UK’s first unified net zero carbon buildings framework, helping establish a consistent and measurable pathway for decarbonising the built environment.

Katie began her career in engineering, specialising in building performance, sustainability, and operational energy. Her experience spans technical design, post-occupancy evaluation, and environmental performance analysis, with a particular focus on closing the gap between modeled and real-world building performance.

Before becoming CEO, Katie played a central role in the development of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, initially joining the initiative as a project manager during its formative stages. Her work has involved coordinating technical working groups, industry consultation, pilot testing programmes, and collaboration across leading real estate institutions, developers, contractors, investors, and sustainability experts.

‍