Global Green Growth Institute

Cambodia has seen the building sector become its the largest final energy consumer, accounting for 52% of total consumption, or 3.5Mtoe in 2017. In the same year, residential and commercial buildings consumed 77% of total final electricity (IEA, 2020). National forecasts anticipate that the building’s energy consumption will more than double by 2040. Buildings with low energy performance are a drag on improving energy productivity and increasingly lock the country into a trajectory for high carbon intensity and a high rate of energy infrastructure investment. Modernization and increasing disposable income are driving the use of electrical and gas appliances in the residential sector. Cooling of buildings also presents a significant challenge. As air temperatures become more extreme, access to cooling will be required to maintain basic living conditions.

A Green Building Council has recently been established through private sector initiative and is developing a green building framework as a locally adapted industry guide, while the Ministry of Environment is also looking at introducing green building guidelines. Against this background, GGGI Cambodia will work on two fronts (i) support the creation of financial incentives and private sector driven initiatives for mainstreaming green building (ii) drawing on this experience to inform ongoing longer term green building policy initiatives. Under the project “Readiness for Green Building”, GGGI will strengthen readiness for green building investments by supporting the development of green building criteria, supporting the operationalization of the new Cambodia Green Building Council and government coordination mechanisms, and scoping investment opportunities