As the country accelerates toward a low-carbon future, green building standards are becoming essential in guiding responsible development and ensuring measurable environmental performance.
The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) has released Green Star New Build V2, the next-generation rating tool that raises the bar for environmental excellence. The Illumination Engineering Society of South Africa (IESSA) is proud to have contributed to its development, reinforcing our role in driving lighting quality, performance, and sustainability in the industry.
Below, IESSA unpacks what V2 brings, why it matters, and how lighting professionals can prepare for the shift.
A new age for sustainable buildings and lighting
Globally, buildings account for a significant share of energy use and carbon emissions, with lighting forming a major portion of operational energy. As climate and resource pressures grow, the lighting industry has an increasingly critical role in reducing energy consumption, improving indoor environmental quality, and supporting occupant wellbeing.
Green Star New Build V2 reflects a clear evolution in sustainability priorities, with a stronger emphasis on:
- Energy efficiency and measurable performance
- Health, well-being, and lighting quality
- Climate resilience and long-term durability
- Circular resource use and lifecycle impacts
- Real building outcomes, not just design promises
Lighting touches each of these, from luminaire efficacy and optical control to daylight integration, flicker management, and human-centric lighting.
The growing importance of green buildings
South Africa is becoming more committed than ever to sustainable development, driven by rising energy costs, grid instability, corporate ESG goals, and global decarbonisation trends. Green buildings are no longer “nice to have”; they are rapidly becoming the standard for responsible development.
At the recent GBCSA conference, this momentum was reinforced when Minister Dean Macpherson publicly committed to greening South Africa’s public buildings, a bold step welcomed across the industry. This announcement signals major future demand for high-performance lighting solutions that support efficiency, lifespan, comfort, and operational cost savings.
With Green Star New Build V2 now in place, lighting professionals have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the sustainability of both private and public infrastructure.
Key enhancements in Green Star New Build V2, and what they mean for lighting
- Higher Performance Standards: V2 introduces stricter minimum thresholds for building performance.
- Expanded Sustainability Categories: The new tool broadens into areas such as nature, resilience, health and well-being, and responsible resource use.
- Lifecycle and outcome-based evaluation: Buildings will now be assessed across the full lifecycle.
- Alignment with global best practice: Green Star V2 aligns closely with leading international sustainability frameworks.
The Green Start V2 rating tool places more emphasis on the quality of the lighting with requirements on glare, flicker, colour consistency and uniformity. It also brings a strong focus on the use of daylight. The norm EN 12464-1:2021 is an important reference when it comes to lighting design.
Lighting the path forward, with IESSA
Green Star New Build V2 marks a powerful shift toward performance-driven, resilient, and human-centred buildings. With the government signalling a strong commitment to green public infrastructure, and the private sector driving its own sustainability goals. Lighting professionals are entering a period of high opportunity.
Now is the time to embrace the change and familiarise yourself with GBCSA and the Green Star New Build V2. This will help you improve design practices, build stronger collaborations, and make more responsible product choices to a more sustainable built environment for South Africa.
IESSA represents South Africa internationally and thereby acts as the National Committee of the CIE (Commission International De L'Eclairage). South African experts in various lighting technology fields serve on CIE international committees responsible for developing standards for different aspects of illumination.
Membership of IESSA is open to both individuals and organisations active in the South African lighting industry. You need to be a Lighting Professional to join IESSA. Group membership is open to any educational, scientific, technical, professional, institutional, public, commercial, municipal, or parastatal entity that is actively involved in the lighting industry.
