Arne Hollen (dena) delivers a detailed overview of the EPC framework

On 2 December 2025, the Thai-German Energy Dialogue (TGED) hosted a webinar entitled ‘Building Energy Performance Certificate (EPC): Lessons Learned from Germany and Beyond’. The virtual dialogue served TGED’s bilateral mission to promote energy efficiency and support the clean energy transition through exchanges between political partners, technical experts and stakeholders in both Thailand and Germany.

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is an official document used to assess and classify the energy consumption of buildings, companies or residential properties. It indicates the level of energy efficiency and provides recommendations for improvement, helping buyers and tenants clearly understand energy-related costs and environmental impacts. Currently, EPCs are a standard tool for evaluating a building’s energy performance in the European Union (EU), enabling transparent and easy comparison of energy efficiency across buildings.

In the opening session, Martin Stoessel, Policy Officer at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), and Dr Pongpan Vorasayan, Director of the Energy Regulation and Conservation Division at the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE), reaffirmed the shared commitment between Germany and Thailand to advance energy efficiency cooperation. Stoessel highlighted Europe’s two decades of experience with Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), noting their role in improving building efficiency, reducing emissions and providing transparent information to users. He stressed the need for clear design and consistent rules supported by emerging digital tools such Digital Building Passports (DBPs), which are digital systems that record and store comprehensive information about buildings. Dr Pongpan added that Germany’s EPC experience offers guidance for Thailand’s energy transition, emphasising the importance of collaboration among policymakers, experts and developers to strengthen energy-efficient building standards.

Wisaruth Maethasith presents Thailand’s Building Energy Efficiency Policies and the pathway to achieving net-zero emissions

Providing an update on Thailand’s policy direction, Wisaruth Maethasith, a Professional Level Engineer representing the DEDE, delivered a keynote presentation on Thailand’s Building Energy Efficiency Policies and the pathway to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. He explained that Thailand’s energy strategy places strong emphasis on optimising energy use across all sectors and is supported by regulatory tools such as the Building Energy Code (BEC), financial mechanisms under the Energy Conservation Fund (ENCON Fund) and business models like Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). Complementary initiatives, including ‘Thailand Taxonomy’, are expected to guide investment towards low-carbon and energy-efficient buildings. Achieving the national targets, he noted, would require accelerating energy performance improvements across both new and existing buildings.

Arne Hollen elaborates tentative adaptations of German EPC experience into the Thai context

Representing the German Energy Agency (dena), Arne Hollen delivered a detailed overview of Germany’s EPC framework. He described EPCs as ‘seals of quality’ for buildings, enabling both regulatory compliance and market transparency for buyers, tenants and investors. Germany’s two EPC types – demand-based certificates assessing building performance, and consumption-based certificates reflecting actual energy use – allow fair comparison across building types. He highlighted the relevance of EPCs in driving renovation decisions and influencing property values. For Thailand, he noted that successful adaptation would require incorporating tropical climate building realities such as cooling demand, shading and natural ventilation, as well as ensuring standardised data collection and professional qualification of EPC issuers.

The Q&A session shed light on practical considerations for Thailand and ASEAN. Speakers discussed cost differences between EPC types and the strong influence of user behaviour on energy consumption such as air-conditioning temperature setting. Arne Hollen also noted that while many ASEAN countries have established building codes, EPC adoption remains largely voluntary, signalling an area for future progress. The session concluded that continued cooperation between European partners, Germany and Thailand would be crucial to shaping a credible and climate-appropriate EPC framework for the region.

The Thai-German Energy Dialogue (TGED), funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany (BMWE) and implemented by GIZ, is part of Germany’s efforts to promote the transition towards renewable energy internationally. The partnerships combine governmental dialogues with technical exchanges with relevance for concrete steps towards improving energy efficiency in the private sector.

Data visualisation of global building energy codes by type and status, presented by Arne Hollen