NABERS has announced a major update to the NABERS Energy rating, marking an important step in ensuring the scheme continues to reflect Australia’s rapidly evolving energy landscape. The update follows several years of analysis, engagement and consultation, and will provide a consistent approach across all building types and jurisdictions from July 2030.
Following technical analysis, industry engagement and public consultation, the NABERS Energy rating will be updated from July 2030.The update has been approved by the NABERS National Steering Committee and will apply consistently across all building types and jurisdictions. It’s designed to ensure NABERS Energy continues to work as intended as Australia’s energy system changes.
What we heard through consultation
The NABERS Energy Update public consultation paper, released in November 2025 after earlier engagement with industry, received strong overall support.
Feedback confirmed broad agreement with the proposed approach and its objectives. In March 2026, the NABERS National Steering Committee approved the update.
Why NABERS is making this update?
NABERS aims to ensure that energy ratings continue to drive both energy efficiency and lower emissions as the energy landscape evolves.
Presently, NABERS Energy ratings use emissions factors to convert the energy used by buildings - such as electricity, gas, LPG, or diesel, into emissions as a comparable metric. NABERS has updated the emissions factors on a five-year cycle, with the next update scheduled for 2030.
However, as the grid decarbonises, electricity emissions factors are declining rapidly. This means the emissions intensity of electricity is expected to fall below the emissions intensity of gas in most parts of the country by 2030. Eventually, buildings powered entirely by electricity will have very low annual emissions, regardless of how much energy they use.
If NABERS continues to rely solely on emissions factors, it could unintentionally reward buildings that achieve low emissions without also addressing energy efficiency. This could:
- Drive higher overall electricity demand from the built environment,
- Place additional pressure on the electricity grid, and
- Affect the relevance and impact of the NABERS star rating.
Supporting better outcomes for buildings
To support decarbonisation of the built environment, buildings need to achieve two outcomes simultaneously:
1. Reduce their energy intensity to reduce demand on the electricity grid, and
2. Shift to low emissions fuel sources such as renewable electricity.
The proposed change encourages buildings to optimise for both outcomes simultaneously via the NABERS Energy Tool which includes:
- The NABERS Star Rating which recognises and rewards low energy intensity with higher star ratings, and
- The Renewable Energy Indicator which recognises buildings with low operational emissions through higher renewable energy percentages.
These measures ensure the NABERS Energy tool will continue to recognise both low emissions and low energy intensity in buildings.
In most cases, buildings with higher NABERS star ratings are expected to have lower emissions than lower rated buildings. The Renewable Energy indicator will also clearly identify lower emission buildings.
This update helps to ensure that the Energy ratings will compare all energy sources equally and will not reward buildings that achieve low emissions without also addressing energy efficiency.
Tools and resources
To support understanding and planning, NABERS has published updated prediction tools.
Coming soon:
- Visual examples showing how NABERS reports will look after the update
- Additional guidance material
NABERS will continue to share information through industry briefings, information sessions and further resources as 2030 approaches.