Nation regional lead market for green buildings: As certified space surpasses 1m sqm

The nation has become West Africa’s leading market for green buildings after surpassing 1 million square metres of EDGE-certified floor space, in what has been described as “a significant milestone” in the country’s efforts to promote sustainable construction and reduce emissions in the built environment.

This announcement was made at the close-out event of the Designing for Greater Efficiency (DfGE) programme, an IFC and SECO-supported initiative that has accelerated the adoption of low-carbon building practices across universities, professional associations and the private sector.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) disclosed that Ghana now accounts for the largest volume of certified green building space in the sub-region, representing more than 81 projects across residential, commercial and public facilities.

According to IFC officials, this achievement reflects rising demand for energy-efficient, water-saving and climate-responsive buildings in a sector long characterised by high resource consumption.

Speaking at the event, IFC Senior Country Officer Yewande Giwa described Ghana’s performance as “remarkable”, noting that the country has delivered one of the strongest outcomes among five nations implementing the DfGE programme.

“In Ghana, 51 projects – including our very own building – have been EDGE-certified,” she said, before confirming that the threshold had since been crossed.

The programme, she added, “was designed to equip senior building design students, trainee architects, engineers and professionals with the essential skills to design resource-efficient buildings that contribute to the transition to a low-carbon future”.

The DfGE programme, jointly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by IFC, was introduced in 2022 to close skills gaps and expand professional capacity in green building design.

Ghana’s uptake has exceeded expectations. Five universities, a professional association and a technical institute have adopted the DfGE course, with 30 trainers trained and 254 students and professionals completing the curriculum. Of this number 67 were women, with increasing female participation in a built-environment space traditionally dominated by men.

Beyond the core training programme, more than 870 participants engaged in workshops, awareness sessions and three zero-carbon design competitions held nationwide.

The online version of the DfGE course will remain available beyond the project’s close-out, with IFC confirming that the content has been updated to align with latest EDGE standards.

According to SECO, this continuity is intended to ensure that the knowledge base established over the past three years is not lost but expanded.

For IFC, the green building agenda in Ghana sits within a wider climate-mitigation strategy. The corporation emphasises that buildings account for about 40 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and consume roughly 37 percent of global energy.

Without improved design standards and better resource management, energy and water inefficiencies in buildings could lock developing countries into unsustainable consumption patterns for decades. IFC views EDGE certification -which requires minimum performance thresholds in energy, water and embodied carbon – as a practical mechanism for reversing these trends.

At the technical level, IFC defines a green building as one that demonstrates at least 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency, 10 percent water savings and 15 percent reduced embodied carbon relative to a local baseline.

Ghana’s rapid increase in certified space, officials say, reflects both growing market awareness and a maturing ecosystem of trained architects, engineers and developers capable of meeting these standards.

Paul Ocran, IFC’s Green Building Lead for Ghana, outlined the corporation’s four-part strategy in the sector: investment and advisory support for private partners; direct investment in buildings; collaboration with government agencies; and provision of free certification tools.

He noted that IFC has supported Ghana’s Ministry of Works and Housing in developing the 2018 Ghana Building Code and amendments to building regulations. “Ghana is the leading market for green buildings in the whole of West Africa,” he said, adding that the country’s achievements represent roughly a quarter of total DfGE training outcomes from all participating countries.

The Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources reiterated its commitment to advancing sustainable construction through policy support and regulation.

Sector Minister Kenneth Gilbert Adjei described green buildings as “a necessity” in view of rapid urbanisation, resource scarcity and rising climate risks. He noted that Ghana is aligning its building sector transformation with its Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.

He also announced an impending major new housing initiative that will embed low-carbon design standards into public construction – the Greenville District Housing Programme, intended to serve as a national blueprint for climate-resilient, resource-efficient housing.

“Our focus is no longer solely on the numbers and how we construct, but why we build, with what and for whom,” he said.

“Our goal is clear: to create structures that minimise environmental harm, maximise resource efficiency and enhance human well-being and prosperity,” he added.

He also reiterated government’s resolve to drive green buildings.

This comes as EDGE certification has grown significantly, reaching over 120 million square metres (about 1.3 billion sq ft) of certified green space across 120 countries by late 2025.

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