.svg){kind=small}
.png){kind=icon}
Overview
In recent years, the built environment has become a key focus in addressing climate change. The Buildings Breakthrough launched at COP28 called for “near-zero emissions and resilient buildings as the new normal by 2030” while 70 countries signed the Declaration de Chaillot in March 2024, committing to the development of regulatory frameworks to help the global building industry achieve net-zero emissions.
Despite significant investments in technology, much of the building and infrastructure data produced often remains fragmented, siloed and unusable across different disciplines or stages of the building lifecycle. This creates challenges in compliance, reporting, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
At COP29, Standards Australia (SA) and the International Code Council (ICC) announced steps to develop a Universal Data Protocol (UDP) that will seek to tackle these problems, focused on enabling the transparent and verifiable exchange of data for effective reporting and compliance across the built environment.
Developing a global solution
A UDP will seek to provide a protocol for different stakeholders across the built environment supply chain to connect disparate data together in an open way, supporting compliance and reporting. It will also act as an extension of the broader UN Transparency Protocol, providing a secure, decentralised framework for data sharing, allowing cross-border, cross-sector data exchange without a central database.
Key benefits include:
- Decentralised verification: Data can be verified without relying on a single system, allowing each participant across the building lifecycle to prove the authenticity of their data.
- Interoperability: An ability to link data from design, construction, and operations across borders, facilitating global compliance.
- Digital security: Using UNTP’s digital signatures and cryptography, UDP ensures data integrity and guards against tampering.
- Common language: Easy integration with existing systems, maximising current technology investments while adding a trusted data-sharing framework.
- Open-Source access: Enables businesses of any size to adopt, collaborate, and advance sustainability together.
Beyond COP29, SA and the ICC will seek to:
- Engage with interested parties who may support and collaborate on the UDP moving forward, including potential funders.
- Develop a Proof of concept (POC) with the support of Pyx, to demonstrate how the UDP would help to produce auditable and verifiable metrics for compliance and environmental reporting.
- Progress the UDP beyond a POC into a functional protocol for the built environment.
