More countries are integrating green building plans into national climate goals

More than 40 countries have used the World Green Building Council’s NDC Scorecard to integrate building decarbonisation plans into their climate goals.

Since launching its NDC Scorecard in June 2025, WorldGBC has engaged with dozens of governments around the world to help them assess and strengthen the buildings component of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

Today (October 23), the organisation made up of more than 85 green building councils announced that this engagement work has resulted in various policy outcomes – including two new national policies in Brazil, integrations within updated NDCs with five regulatory instruments in Chile, as well as four actions incorporated into Morocco’s NDC.

Six new building policies have also been integrated into Nigeria’s NDC, covering the integration of energy efficiency and climate resilience into the national building code, the implementation of two smart, green and climate-resilient cities per geographical zone, and mandatory hazard mapping and risk zoning in local planning.

Cristina Gamboa, CEO of the World Green Building Council, said: “We are now firmly in the era of implementation – and the NDC Scorecard for Sustainable Buildings is a proven tool to deliver it. Aligned with the Global Stocktake agenda, it provides a platform to translate global goals into measurable, accountable outcomes. From Colombia to Nigeria and Brazil, it’s enabling real policy shifts – from circularity targets and taxonomy frameworks to updated building codes.”

Learnings from WorldGBC’s National Action Plans

As part of this engagement work – which has so far included more than 50 national workshops and conversations with over 1,100 stakeholders from government, industry and finance – WorldGBC has also developed 16 National Action Plans identifying priority policy measures for policymakers and implementers.

Within these plans, three themes are consistent across different legislations: governments should modernise and incorporate energy and water efficiency and carbon into building codes and set minimum performance benchmarks for buildings; industry should implement national decarbonisation roadmaps, adopt green certification schemes and integrate circular design and resilience into design; and finance needs to establish green finance taxonomies, create specialist financial instruments such as green mortgages and retrofit loans and align portfolios with ESG and NDC goals. 

"Buildings are not just part of the climate challenge – they are one of our most powerful solutions. The 16 National Action Plans developed via the Scorecard show how we can scale proven policies to build resilient economies, healthy communities, and a zero-carbon future. Ahead of COP30, we call on all countries to #BeBoldOnBuildings and turn climate promises into action,” added Gamboa.