A major report has mapped the alignment between Asia Pacific green building certification schemes and the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, providing investors and policymakers with unprecedented clarity on how the built environment can meet sustainable finance expectations.
The study, Unlocking Capital: Aligning Asia Pacific’s Green Building Rating Tools to the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, is the first to deliver a credit-by-credit analysis of 32 rating tools across 16 systems spanning the region and beyond.
The report was developed by the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Asia Pacific Regional Network (APN) in collaboration with OCBC.
It bridges a critical gap between technical building performance standards and the expectations of global capital markets, with a comprehensive technical appendix mapping each tool’s criteria against the ASEAN Taxonomy’s Technical Screening Criteria and “Do No Significant Harm” principles.
Cristina Gamboa, CEO of WorldGBC, said: “Aligning green buildings with sustainable finance is essential to accelerate the transition we need.
“This report gives investors and policymakers clarity to channel capital into buildings that deliver both climate impact and economic resilience.”
Mike Ng, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at OCBC, said: “At OCBC, we believe that accelerating sustainable finance in the built environment requires not just capital, but clarity.
“This collaboration with the World Green Building Council reflects our commitment to bridging knowledge gaps and fostering alignment between green building rating tools, sustainable financing principles and Taxonomies.
“By providing practical insights and regional context, this guide empowers stakeholders to make informed, climate-aligned investment and financing decisions, helping to scale impact across Asia Pacific and beyond.”
The technical appendix offers a level of detail not previously available, mapping tool criteria credit by credit.
This allows stakeholders to identify where rating tools demonstrate strong overlap with the ASEAN Taxonomy — such as in climate mitigation objectives centred on energy performance — and where further development is required.
Identified gaps include the treatment of climate adaptation, circular economy principles, and construction site activities, although the report notes these areas are increasingly being addressed as rating systems evolve.
Across the 32 tools, Australia’s Green Star Buildings and Singapore’s Green Mark 2021 schemes showed the strongest alignment with the ASEAN Taxonomy.
The study calls for enhanced transparency, better integration of adaptation and resilience measures, and improved interoperability between frameworks and financial disclosure requirements.
By highlighting both strengths and gaps, the report urges policymakers, tool developers, and investors to collaborate on a shared roadmap for green buildings in the region.
Positioned as a call to action, it recommends a coordinated effort to integrate adaptation and resilience criteria while ensuring roadmaps align with national climate targets.