  Citation: Assefa, S.; Lee, H.-Y.; Shiue, F.-J. Sustainability Performance of Green Building Rating Systems (GBRSs) in an Integration Model. Buildings 2022, 12, 208. https:// doi.org/10.3390/buildings12020208 Academic Editor: Krishanu Roy Received: 9 January 2022 Accepted: 4 February 2022 Published: 11 February 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). buildings Article Sustainability Performance of Green Building Rating Systems (GBRSs) in an Integration Model Sintayehu Assefa 1 , Hsin-Yun Lee 1, * and Fang-Jye Shiue 2 1 Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan; d10805806@mail.ntust.edu.tw 2 Graduate Institute of Architecture & Sustainable Planning, National Ilan University, Yi-Lan 260007, Taiwan; fajy@ms24.hinet.net * Correspondence: hsinyun0520@mail.ntust.edu.tw; Tel.: +886-2-27376567 Abstract: In most countries, more than one green building rating system (GBRS) is available on the market. Because of their different approaches, it is difficult to confirm which system can respond to sustainability requirements better. A building considered to be “green” by one Green Building Council (GBC) may fail to satisfy the requirements set by another council. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sustainability performance of GBRSs and establish an integrated model of multi- certification for optimal sustainability. A direct content analysis method was utilized to evaluate GBRSs’ qualitative performance using the ISO sustainable building standards. In this study, seven purposively selected multi-certified buildings were evaluated, and an integrated model was proposed as a better mechanism for the multi-certification process. The proposed integrated model contributes to the achievement of sustainability indicators. The model was implemented on case study buildings, and the proposed combination shows better sustainability performance than existing practice. The developed model helps practitioners in their selection of GBRSs in the multi-certification process. In addition, the performance evaluation of GBRSs will support the future update of GBRSs. The qualitative performance evaluation was performed considering mandatory requirements and prereq- uisite and credit requirements of selected rating systems, making the work a stronger approach than previous studies. Keywords: green building rating systems; sustainable building; ISO sustainability indicators; multi- certification; integration model 1. Introduction Sustainable building principles, a major part of sustainable construction, are mainly applied using green building rating systems (GBRSs). Acceptance of the systems has been increasing since their emergence [1–3]. Nowadays, several rating systems, from those in the local context to fully flexible international systems, such as the Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool) [4,5], are available on the market. However, the heterogeneity [6] of the GBRS approach and the contradictory results of the system performance [7,8] along with the benefits for users [9–11] have been believed to affect the wide acceptance of the approach, especially in developing nations. One of the key challenges in the system is the difficulty in balancing the conflicting requirements among the main dimensions (i.e., environmental, social, and economic) [12]. Because of this challenge, the managers of building design and construction need more support to achieve the complete sustainability [13]. Doan, et al. [14] evaluated Lead- ership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE), and Green Star New Zealand (Green Star NZ) according to the environmental, social, economic, and institutional “sustainability pillars” Buildings 2022, 12, 208. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12020208 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings