What the current scheme requires
Australia's Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) program has required owners of office buildings larger than 1,000 square metres to obtain and disclose a NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) energy efficiency rating at the point of sale or lease since 2011. The scheme was one of the first mandatory building energy disclosure regimes in the world and has since become a reference point for similar programs overseas. Non-compliance already carries civil penalties of up to $184,920 for corporations.
What is changing
A roadmap released by the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy sets out a 10-year plan to extend mandatory disclosure beyond office buildings to other commercial building types, including hotels, by 2030. The federal government has committed $20 million to fund the expansion of the CBD program. NABERS has said it is working with industry to prepare for the widened scope, and building teams are already operating under the latest office rating rules (v5.2) and updated metering guidance.
Why it matters for owners and tenants
For commercial property owners, a widened disclosure regime means a new category of buildings will need a NABERS rating in place before they can be sold or leased, adding a compliance step to transactions on assets that had no equivalent obligation before. For tenants, particularly in sectors like hospitality, it means energy performance becomes a disclosed, comparable data point in the same way it already is for office leasing decisions, where NABERS ratings are now a routine factor in tenant negotiations.