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Second Technical Advisory Committee Meeting: Advancing Cambodia’s Path Toward Low Carbon Buildings

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 2, 2025 – The Cambodian Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) organized the Second Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for the Asia Low Carbon Buildings Transition (ALCBT) Project.

The session was officially opened by H.E. Ros Salin, Secretary of State of MLMUPC and Chairman of the Project Steering Committee, and Ms. Shomi Kim, GGGI Country Representative for Cambodia. In his remarks, H.E. Ros Salin emphasized the important role of partnerships in helping the government achieve Cambodia’s 2050 vision as well as fulfilling its climate commitment towards carbon neutrality. He urged participants to discuss the policy direction for the building and construction sector to contribute to this long-term goal.

Over 30 participants, including representatives from government agencies, professional associations, development partners, and the private sector, joined the event. They discussed the policy assessments, emission scenario modeling for buildings, the establishment of a Green Finance Network (GFN) to foster investment in low-carbon buildings (LCBs), and other ongoing project activities in Cambodia.

The policy assessment report provides a comprehensive analysis of Cambodia’s current policy landscape, institutional frameworks, and potential entry points for advancing LCBs. It identifies key policy gaps and proposes actionable recommendations to promote LCBs in Cambodia, with the ALCBT project’s support highlighted for implementing these recommendations. The report has been circulated to participants for further review.

The emission scenarios modelling is an Excel-based model developed to project energy consumption in buildings toward 2070. It includes three scenarios: (1) business-as-usual, (2) impacts of implementing regulations on appliances’ minimum energy performance standards and building energy efficiency guidelines, and (3) net-zero emission pathway. Initial findings indicate that Cambodia could reduce energy consumption by up to 34% compared to business-as-usual scenario and calls for the urgent need to adopt building energy efficiency guidelines and the uptake of more efficient technologies used in buildings.

GFN is a platform connecting financial institutions, such as commercial banks, development banks, and microfinance institutions, committed to scaling up sustainable finance for LCBs. The discussion focused on the linkage of GFN with Cambodia’s sustainable financing framework, currently under development by the National Bank of Cambodia.

The meeting concluded with plans to publish the policy assessment report. Furthermore, the project will also continue engaging with relevant institutions on scenario modelling to integrate findings into Cambodia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 3.0, and to link the establishment of GFN to the broader framework of Cambodia’s sustainable finance initiatives.

About the Asia Low Carbon Building Transition (ALCBT) Project

The ALCBT Project is a five-year initiative (2023-2028) that seeks to reduce GHG emissions by catalyzing nationwide transitions toward low-carbon buildings in five Asian countries: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Funded by the Government of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), through the International Climate Initiative (IKI), the project is being implemented by a consortium led by GGGI and comprising the ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE), Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), and HEAT International. In Cambodia, the project works in close collaboration with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning, and Construction (MLMUPC) as the government counterpart. The project will institutionalize a building carbon assessment tool, integrate it with national energy codes, and support the country’s climate targets outlined in the NEEP and NDCs.

For more information, visit: https://staging.alcbt.org