SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY RATING SYSTEMS AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

Abstract

The term sustainability has multidisciplinary use and meaning. Sustainability is typically described by many sources as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable construction projects are those that ensure the consideration of economic, environmental and social impacts that are created by their activities. It includes all the construction related tasks and the company's management. This research focuses mainly on the criteria of social and environmental sustainability. Social sustainability, whose criteria is based on the classification of company's stakeholders and the project's, and environmental sustainability, also called physical dimensions of sustainability, whose criteria are those related to resources and the environment. This paper aims to recognize the most known sustainability certification systems, how they classify their criteria and rate their metrics. After the research, we can conclude that the certification systems incorporate more metrics for criteria of environmental sustainability than for social sustainability.