ISO 21678:2020 defines principles, requirements and guidelines for the development and use of benchmarks when assessing the economic, social and/or environmental performance of buildings and civil engineering works by using sustainability indicators.

It complements and supports the application of ISO 21929-1 and ISO/TS 21929-2 by creating principles and requirements for the establishment of benchmarks that support target setting, decision making and communication to third parties. This document is also related to ISO 21931-1 and ISO 21931-2 by creating principles, requirements and guidelines for the establishment and use of benchmarks related to environmental performance and other aspects of sustainability.

This document describes three types of values for benchmarks (performance levels for comparison purposes):

— limit values;

— reference values;

— target values.

This document does not set benchmarks.