South Korea makes green building certification mandatory for new schools

The Seoul Dream Energy Center was built in partnership between Seoul city government and Germany’s Fraunhofer Society, to develop Korea’s first net-zero energy building. (Image: WSP)

South Korea has amended rules on green construction to make it mandatory for new public school buildings to meet green building certification.

The new rules specify that newly built, rebuilt or extended public school buildings greater than 3,000 sq m in area must meet the certification.

South Korea’s government introduced green building certification in 2002 to reduce building energy consumption, save resources, and promote nature-friendly architecture.

The certification evaluates seven different areas including land use, energy use, environmental pollution and the building’s effect on the local ecological environment.

As of 2022, a total of 20,920 buildings in the country have received green building certification.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and Ministry of Environment administer the scheme.