Gwangmyeong City Rapidly Expands 'Green Building' to Private Sector... Accelerating Carbon-Neutral, Energy-Independent City

The city applies green building policies starting with public buildings
Laying the groundwork for Zero Energy Buildings and green remodeling
Establishment and operation of the nation's first Green Building Support Center among local governments
Strengthening the implementation system from policy formulation to data evaluation
Promoting the Third Green Building Development Plan (2027–2031)

Gwangmyeong City in Gyeonggi Province is accelerating its efforts to become a carbon-neutral city by rapidly expanding the green building expertise it has accumulated in public buildings to the private sector.

On May 7, Gwangmyeong City announced the "Green Building Expansion Strategy," focused on citizen participation and private sector dissemination beyond the existing public-centered policy, during a policy briefing. The city aims to create a sustainable, energy-independent city by maximizing the energy performance of buildings, which account for a significant share of urban carbon emissions in the era of the climate crisis.

Jinyongman, Director of the Urban Housing Bureau, is announcing the 'Green Building Expansion Strategy,' which focuses on citizen participation and private sector diffusion beyond the existing public-centered policy, through a policy briefing on the 7th. Provided by Gwangmyeong City.

Carbon neutrality starts with buildings: Laying the foundation through public green buildings

Gwangmyeong City has identified improving building energy performance as a key task for achieving a carbon-neutral city, in response to the deepening climate crisis and the ongoing energy transition.

Since buildings have a major impact on urban energy consumption and carbon emissions, the city has been leading the way by promoting green building initiatives centered on public buildings.

New public buildings are constructed as Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB), while existing public buildings are improved through green remodeling.

Notably, even before the government mandated ZEB certification for public buildings, the city applied its own certification standards that exceed the legal requirements and expanded the scope to include buildings not otherwise subject to mandatory certification, ensuring these also achieve at least ZEB grade 5. As a result, certification has preemptively been applied to 12 public buildings to date, including the Eoulligi Happiness Center, the Culture Power Plant, and the Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center.

The city is also continuing to enhance the energy performance of existing public buildings through green remodeling.

Since 2020, a total of 17 public buildings have been selected for the public building green remodeling grant project, with construction completed at 15 sites so far.

In addition, by securing over 10 billion won in national and provincial government funds, the city has reduced its financial burden and is simultaneously carrying out its own projects to further improve building performance, including linking these efforts to ZEB certification. As a result, Cheolsan Municipal Daycare Center received ZEB grade 3 certification in 2020, while Gurumsan Municipal Daycare Center received grade 4 certification in 2021.

This foundation for green transformation of public buildings has also been recognized externally. In 2021, the city received the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology Director’s Award at the Korea Green Building Awards for Cheolsan Municipal Daycare Center, as well as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister’s Commendation at the 6th Green Remodeling Best Practice Contest in 2021 and in the Green Remodeling Contribution category in 2024.

Jinyongman, Director of the Urban Housing Bureau, is announcing the 'Green Building Expansion Strategy,' which focuses on citizen participation and private sector expansion beyond the existing public-centric policies, during a policy briefing on the 7th. Provided by Gwangmyeong City.

Connecting green building policy and data: Establishing the nation's first 'Green Building Support Center' among local governments

In September 2022, Gwangmyeong City established and began operating the nation's first "Green Building Support Center" among local governments, thereby laying the foundation for advancing green building policy.

The center plays a core role in supporting the spread of green building by: ▲ formulating policies related to green buildings ▲ managing ordinances that support green building development ▲ evaluating and managing energy consumption in public buildings ▲ promoting green remodeling projects.

The city is also enhancing the effectiveness of its policies through education. It provides training on green building systems and application technologies to public officials, while also offering awareness-raising education to citizens and students to broaden the base for participation.

In addition, the city has established a data-driven system to quantitatively manage carbon reduction in the building sector.

For the first time among local governments nationwide, the city has installed Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) in 19 public buildings, including Gwangmyeong City Hall and the Citizens Hall, to integrate and manage real-time energy usage and carbon emissions data.

Furthermore, using a building energy information platform, the city evaluates and manages changes in electricity, gas, district heating, and water consumption by lot and neighborhood throughout Gwangmyeong.

Based on this data, the center published the "2025 Gwangmyeong City Building Sector Carbon Emissions Report" and, in recognition of these achievements, received the Encouragement Award from the Commissioner of the Gyeongin Regional Statistics Office at the 2025 Regional Statistics Best Practice Contest.

Jinyongman, Director of the Urban Housing Bureau, is announcing the "Green Building Expansion Strategy," which focuses on citizen participation and the spread of the private sector beyond the existing public-centered policies, through a policy briefing on the 7th. Provided by Gwangmyeong City.

Beyond design and construction to operation: Strengthening full-cycle management through the 'Third Green Building Strategy'

Building on its achievements, Gwangmyeong City will launch its "Third Green Building Development Plan" starting in 2027. The central theme of this plan is "expansion from the public to the private sector."

In alignment with the government's carbon neutrality policy direction and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "Third Basic Plan for Green Buildings," the city has set its core goal as spreading green building practices from the public sector to the private sector and realizing an energy-independent city based on carbon neutrality.

To this end, the city will pursue five key strategies: ▲ establishing municipality-led governance ▲ expanding zero energy buildings ▲ expanding green remodeling of existing buildings ▲ integrating and advancing evaluation systems ▲ implementing evaluation at the building operation stage.

The evaluation system will be enhanced by focusing on data. The city will distribute Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to private buildings to lay the foundation for energy data collection, and systematically analyze building energy information through an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based carbon emissions management platform.

Furthermore, the city will shift to a system that manages green building policy across all stages, from planning, design, and construction to operation and decommissioning. For public buildings, the city will expand management and evaluation at the design, construction, and operation stages to reduce carbon emissions. For the private sector, the city aims to promote energy savings by encouraging participation in demand response (DR) programs and linking with incentives.

Public buildings will not only meet the mandatory installation standards for renewable energy but will also expand the scope of green building by additionally installing Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) and Photovoltaic (PV) power generation facilities, transforming buildings from energy-saving structures to energy-producing structures.

Jinyongman, Director of the Urban Housing Bureau, stated, "Carbon reduction in the building sector is a core task determining the sustainability of cities in this era of climate crisis and energy transition. We will solidify the foundation for an energy-independent city that supports 2050 carbon neutrality by expanding the momentum for green building established in the public sector to the private sector and adding citizen participation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.