The need to implement sustainable development (SD) in the construction industry has given birth to the green building (GB) movement. GB is a promising construction approach through which the construction industry contributes to SD. However, the adoption of GB has been hampered in many parts of the world by numerous barriers. To date, no attention has been paid to the need to review existing knowledge of barriers affecting GB adoption. This paper presents a systematic review of literature on barriers to GB adoption published in academic journals.

The series of publications review the most successful sustainable practices, resulted in ecological, economic and social benefits from the implemented projects in energy efficiency in the residential buildings, municipal heating, construction and in general in housing and community utilities.

These projects are implemented jointly by UNDP, various donors and the Government of Kazakhstan on energy saving in housing and community utilities and construction.

With skyrocketing energy demand, limited energy supply, rapid urbanization and increasing pollution levels, India critically needs energy solutions. Energy efficiency is an immediate solution, locking in energy savings in India’s growing cities. To reap energy savings, Hyderabad and Telangana State are moving forward with India’s first online system to ensure energy savings in buildings.

Three strategies for code implementation are proposed:

The latest version of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) aims to achieve a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050, and compels Member States to develop respective roadmaps, guidelines and measurable, targeted actions.

The National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) guided the China Quality Certification Center (CQC) to develop a China TOP TENs Best Energy Efficient Practices list to highlight energy savings practices for the China’s buildings sector. The list covers a broad range of building practices including commercial and residential. Each practices have been weighted using a structured methodology to determine its energy saving and cost achievement, sustainability, originality and innovation, replicability, as well as co-benefits.

Building energy efficiency has been identified as a cost-effective opportunity to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and a variety of policies are being implemented to harvest this efficiency potential. However, there are growing concerns about a gap between predicted or expected energy consumption levels in buildings and the actual measured energy consumption in operation, both at an individual building level as well as in the building sector as a whole.

The purpose of this study was to complete a literature review of the economic assessment of the costs, benefits and methods for the construction of houses that are designed and built to standards that exceed the minimum requirements as defined by the Building Code. The scope included international and local assessments, academic and grey literature and industry material such as facts sheets. Key findings Many studies focused on energy savings as the sole benefit.