Photo 1. Group photo of the 2nd Meeting of EE&C-SSN Working Group on Building participants.
Jakarta, 10 March 2026 – The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) convened the 2nd Meeting of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Sub-Sector Network (EE&C-SSN) Working Group on Buildings in Jakarta, Indonesia. Participants from eleven ASEAN Member States and ACE gathered both in-person and online to deliberate on progress, plans, and challenges in the buildings sector, aligned with Programme Area No. 4 - Energy Efficiency & Conservation (EE&C) of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC).
Photo 2. Dr Daniel Collin Jornales, Chief Science Research Specialist, Department of Energy, Philippines, and Chair of the Working Group on Building.
Dr Daniel Collin Jornales, Chief Science Research Specialist, Department of Energy, Philippines, and Chair of the Working Group on Building, delivered opening remarks. He highlighted the building sector’s growing share of energy consumption across ASEAN, thus positioning it as an important pillar to achieve the region’s energy intensity targets. He encouraged all participants to engage in the day’s discussions openly and constructively to make ASEAN’s building sector more efficient, resilient, and sustainable.
Photo 3. Tung Phuong (left), Senior Officer of APAEC & Strategic Partnership, ACE; Naing Naing Linn (right), Manager of EE&C Department, ACE.
The first presentation was delivered by Tung Phuong, Senior Officer of the APAEC & Strategic Partnership Department at ACE. He provided a scene-setting overview on energy efficiency policies in the building sector and pathways towards low-carbon and Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB). He emphasised that to close policy and implementation gaps of building standards, the region needs stronger cooperation on codes and compliance, data and benchmarking, skills and institutions, and financing mechanism barriers such as high upfront costs, limited technical capacity, and rising cooling demand.
On the other hand, Naing Naing Linn, Manager of EE&C Department, ACE, provided an update on the building sector’s achievements under the APAEC Phase II: 2021-2025 and plans for the APAEC 2026-2030. The Meeting noted the challenges present in harmonising the new APAEC 2026-2030 outcomes, given differing national approaches and parameters of each AMS.
Following that, Irma Ramadan, Senior Officer of the EE&C Department, ACE, presented the insights on building energy certification and regulatory developments towards zero energy and low-carbon buildings. The session noted while eight AMS already have national building energy certification systems, significant differences remain in energy weighting, assessment approaches, and lifecycle coverage, with international schemes still outperforming national systems in several countries.
Photo 4. Rizky Aditya Putra, Programme Manager of ALCBT (left) and Mardika Firlina, Officer of EE&C Department, ACE (right)
Rizky Aditya Putra, Programme Manager of the Asia Low-Carbon Buildings Transition (ALCBT) Programme and Mardika Firina, Officer of EE&C Department, ACE, Rizky Aditya Putra, Programme Manager of the Asia Low-Carbon Buildings Transition (ALCBT) Programme, and Mardika Firina, Officer of the EE&C Department at ACE, provided an overview of advancing Zero Energy Building (ZEB) implementation through energy-efficient equipment, enabling technologies, and regional initiatives. The meeting noted that cooling, lighting, and smart energy management are the primary measures utilized in energy-efficient buildings. While cooling represents the largest potential for energy savings, it also requires significant investment. Furthermore, most current ZEB pilot projects are focused on office buildings.
Photo 5. Irma Ramadan, Senior Officer of EE&C Department, ACE (left) and Rio Jon Piter Silitonga, Senior Officer of EE&C Department, ACE (right).
Irma, alongside, Rio Jon Piter Silitonga, Senior Officer of the EE&C Department, ACE, continued with a presentation on the roadmap for extreme heat protection through passive cooling in the ASEAN region, noting the potential of passive cooling to reduce energy demand across ASEAN. The discussion emphasised that stronger policy, financing, capacity building, and broader monitoring are necessary to overcome persistent barrier such as high upfront costs and limited awareness.
Photo 6. Afham Kilmi (left), Officer of MPP Department, ACE and Arika Dhia (right), Officer of EE&C Department, ACE.
Moving on, Afham Kilmi, Officer of Energy Modelling and Policy Planning (MPP) Department, presented on data collection of the 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO9) in relevance to the building sector. This was followed by an overview by Rio and Arika Dhia, Officer of EE&C Department, who presented updates on ongoing projects in the buildings sector, noting the continued support for PEEB-ASEAN and ALCBT projects in advancing energy-efficient and low-carbon buildings.
Photo 7. ASEAN Member States representatives providing comments during the meeting.
Photo 8. Zaidan Akbar, Programme Officer of PEEB-ASEAN.
Zaidan Akbar, Programme Officer of EE&C Department, ACE, provided the summary and way forward of the discussions. He underscored the importance of sustained collaboration and active support from all AMS to implement building-related discussed in the meeting to achieve ASEAN’s shared energy efficiency and decarbonisation goals.
The outcomes of the meeting will play an important role in strengthening regional cooperation to advance energy efficiency in ASEAN’s building sector. ACE will continue to coordinate with AMS to enhance efforts under the APAEC 2026-2030, including by advancing ZEB initiatives, strengthening building certification frameworks, and promoting energy-efficient and low-carbon building practices across the region.
