- The Low Carbon Building Initiative (LCBI) is expanding its carbon-tracking label from new builds to include renovation projects across Europe by late 2026.
- The new label targets three sectors: office buildings, collective housing, and hotels, forcing a new standard for sustainable tourism infrastructure.
- Major real estate players like Generali and Covivio are already using the label to verify “green” data, making it a prerequisite for high-end property deals.
- The methodology tracks everything from the carbon cost of demolition to the building’s daily operations.
“It has become absolutely crucial to take into account the complexity of new building projects. The line between renovation and new construction is never as clear as it might seem. It is a major step ahead for both LCBI and BBCA, to update to new market constraints, to tackle renovation at the European level. Carbon is everywhere and we are to keep on lowering its presence in every part of the game,” said Stanislas Pottier, BBCA & LCBI President.
The End of Greenwashing in Construction?
For decades, sustainable renovation in the European property market was a vague concept. That changes in 2026. The LCBI—backed by the French BBCA Association—is rolling out a unified carbon-accounting framework that will cover the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and beyond.
The goal is to provide investors and developers with a single, comparable number (expressed in kg CO₂ eq/m²) that proves a building isn’t just “green-looking,” but actually low-impact. For the tourism sector, this means that the “rehabilitation” of historic buildings into luxury hotels will now be scrutinized from the first sledgehammer blow to the final guest check-in.
According to the press release, the methodological framework is based on the following guiding principles:
✔ Comprehensive life-cycle analysis, covering transformation, demolition, construction, and operation phases.
LCBI
✔ Alignment of accounting methods between new and renovated buildings.
✔ Compatibility with European and national regulations.
✔ A quantified carbon footprint result expressed in kg CO₂ eq/m², valid for any location in Europe.
✔ A “no-renovation” reference scenario to assess avoided emissions.
✔ Integration within sustainable finance frameworks, including compliance with the EU taxonomy and alignment with ESRS and other climate reporting practices.
✔ The framework will deal with embodied carbon, operational carbon and carbon storage on a whole Life Cycle basis.
✔ Carbon emission thresholds that must not be exceeded to earn the label, rewarding buildings with exemplary low-carbon performance.
✔ The label will first be awarded to real estate assets located in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom.
Renovation vs. New Construction
According to LCBI President Stanislas Pottier, the line between a “new build” and a “renovation” is increasingly blurred. Many modern projects mix both, and the new label aims to close the loophole that allowed older buildings to escape strict carbon reporting.
The framework will introduce a “no-renovation” reference scenario, which calculates exactly how much carbon was saved by not tearing down a building and starting from scratch. For historic Mediterranean regions where renovation is the primary form of development, this could become a vital tool for securing EU “Green Taxonomy” funding.
The full methodology is expected to be published by the end of 2026. It will align with the latest EU sustainability reporting (ESRS) and climate regulations. For property owners in the eight pilot countries—including major tourism hubs like Italy and Spain—the message is clear: if you aren’t counting your carbon, you aren’t in the game.
