Minergie Net Zero: From a climate goal to a measurable planning task

With the launch of the Minergie Net Zero certification, Minergie has created a new reference framework for climate-neutral construction in Switzerland. For the first time, net zero in building construction is anchored as a clearly defined standard with verifiable criteria. What used to be formulated as a strategic goal now becomes a concretely measurable requirement across a building's entire life cycle.

We are proud that the very first project aiming for this label is being analysed and optimised with vyzn. This is exactly the kind of pioneering work we are driven by.

What is behind the standard?

Minergie Net Zero goes considerably further than previous efficiency standards. It assesses not only operational energy use but the complete greenhouse-gas balance across a building's entire life cycle. That is a decisive paradigm shift.

The standard is based on a systematic triad:

Avoid: reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from construction and operation. This includes embodied energy from building materials as well as operational emissions from heating, cooling and electricity.

Store: targeted use of materials with carbon-storage potential. Materials such as timber can actively improve the overall balance.

Offset: compensating for remaining residual emissions through recognised negative-emission technologies, such as carbon dioxide removal.

This triad makes one thing clear: net zero is not an energy label. It is a holistic climate balance.

What changes for planning

With this step, the demands on the decision basis in early project phases rise considerably. Embodied energy, operational emissions and stored carbon have to be captured, balanced and weighed against one another at the same time. That cannot be achieved with isolated individual calculations.

For planning teams, this means in concrete terms:

Variant decisions need a shared data basis across all three balance metrics.

Material decisions have to be taken early, as they significantly influence the overall balance.

The verification has to be traceable and auditable across the entire life cycle.

For building owners it means, above all, one thing: investment decisions need a robust, comparable data basis. Gut feeling is no longer enough.

A pioneering project in practice

The first project aiming for Minergie Net Zero certification is being planned by Kämpfen für Architektur AG. vyzn enables the planning team to calculate life-cycle assessments directly from the digital building model and to run variant comparisons based on robust key figures.

This lets planning alternatives be evaluated not only faster but also more soundly: what does switching from a concrete core to a timber structure achieve? How does a different insulation thickness affect the overall balance? Answers that used to take weeks now come straight from the model.

We are very much looking forward to this collaboration with Kämpfen für Architektur AG.

Conclusion

With Minergie Net Zero, climate-neutral construction in Switzerland becomes more binding and more measurable. Net zero thus becomes less a political buzzword than a concrete planning task with clear requirements and quantifiable target values.

The decisive lever lies in the early planning phase: anyone who calculates emissions only at the end can hardly optimise anymore. Anyone who builds them into the model from the start has the room needed for sound decisions.

vyzn creates exactly that room.