National and international standardization relevant for sustainability in construction

Sustainability in construction has a short history in terms of principles, standardisations and applications. From the Brundtland Report “Our Common Future” (UN WCED, 1987) in which the concept of sustainable development was coined, the term “sustainability” was used more and more, by industry and common people, and also in the construction field. The new vision of the resource deficits and climate impacts, and the social responsibility between North-South as well as between generations, gave growth to the idea of sustainable design and construction. The need for analyses, assessments and comparison where noticed by the international, and consequently national, organisations for standardisation, which started to develop standards for the application of sustainable principles, mainly environmental aspects, in construction. The paper is giving an overview of existing and planned standards, and giving examples on how to use the standards as framework for development of methods and tools for assessment.