The SB Alliance is an international non-profit organization bringing together operators of building rating tools and certification, standard setting organizations, national building research centers and key property industry stakeholders, The purpose of SB Alliance is accelerating the adoption of sustainable building practices through the promotion of shared indicators for building performance assessment and rating.

The Sustainable Building Alliance was initiated in 2008 and officially established in 2009 by BRE (United Kingdom), CSTB (France), FCAV (Brazil), ITC CNR (Italy), QUALITEL (France) and VTT (Finland).

The first version of the SBA core set of indicators was produced. SB Core Metrics gives, through a common set of indicators, an independently verifiable system of measurement and provides decision-makers with a tangible means to show a commitment in sustainable buildings. For one year, researchers of all the members of SB Alliance have worked together to produce a first report proposing common indicators on the theme of Carbon. This report was presented at the BATIMAT fair in Paris in November 2009. The common carbon metric for measuring energy use and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from building operations was officially launched in Copenhagen on December 2009. The quality and speed of this production, despite the number and differences of partners, is a very encouraging result for SB Alliance. Finally, the membership expanded to 26 members of 13 countries, which permits to expect further successes in the future.

The six indicators are presented below: