Building green retrofit in China: Policies, barriers and recommendations

Green retrofit is an effective way of improving the performance of existing buildings to achieve low energy consumption and low carbon emission. To realize a successful building green retrofit, it is important to understand the barriers and to develop relevant policies for retrofitting existing buildings, especially in developing countries. As a typical developing country, China has a large number of aged buildings with high green retrofit potential. In terms of its government structure, economic development, and building stocks, China is unique in that it poses a unique set of barriers and policy strategies on the promotion of building green retrofit. Based on a critical review, existing retrofit policies in China were reviewed. Then, the barriers to building green retrofit within the context of China were identified. Based on the study of existing policies and barriers, relevant policies for addressing these barriers are recommended. The findings provide a valuable reference for policy makers in China to review current building green retrofit policies or to develop new policies that address the barriers. This study also provides a useful reference for other countries aiming to review their building green retrofit policies. •The relationships between building retrofit policies were examined.•A series of building retrofit policies have been implemented in China.•The barriers to building green retrofit in China were identified.•Six recommendations were proposed for China to overcome the barriers.