Development of Cambodia Green Building Guidelines and Certification (CamGCGB) for National Implementation: Criteria for New and Existing Buildings

To address Sustainability, Cambodia's National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) is developing a national building rating system for possible implementation by the Ministry of Environment. This paper describes the objectives and framework for preparing the draft of this system. The study aims to develop guidelines and certification criteria for Cambodia's 'new buildings' and 'buildings in use'. The study reviews prevalent regionally and internationally used building assessment schemes and relates their outcomes to the local context. The resulting criteria framework, further developed through stakeholder reviews and piloting projects, combines sustainable considerations in environmental, economic, and socio-functional sustainability categories, including process, communication, and site considerations. It incorporates feasible quantitative and qualitative criteria for implementation and evaluation using applicable indicators. The framework also foresees the development of training and operation manuals for the certification process. While adopting several criteria from existing rating schemes to become practical in Cambodia, such an approach requires a gradual adjustment due to the prevailing lack of local standards and related reference data, and the lack of experience in sustainability in critical occupations of the industry. The significance of the study lies in its potential to promote sustainable development in the Cambodian construction sector; implementing a certification system will help the country achieve sustainable development goals.