Hong Kong's 2025 Energy Mandate: 5 Key Changes Impacting Your Building

1. Expanded Scope: Beyond Commercial Properties

Before: The mandatory energy audit requirement was primarily limited to commercial buildings and the commercial portions of composite buildings.

Now: The mandate has dramatically expanded to 11 specific building types. This now includes a wide range of properties, such as buildings used for educational purposes, healthcare, community services, municipal services, and, significantly, data centres.

Coming Soon: Our next post will detail all 11 building types to help you identify if your portfolio is now covered by the new rules.

2. Increased Frequency: Audits Every 5 Years

Before: Building owners were required to conduct an energy audit every 10 years.

Now: The interval has been shortened to every 5 years.

Why it matters: This doubles the compliance pace, forcing a shift from a "once-a-decade" compliance task to a continuous cycle of improvement. It requires more consistent budgeting and operational planning.

Coming Soon: We'll explore the implications of this new 5-year timeline and what it means for your operations and capital planning.

3. Mandatory Public Data Disclosure

Before: Audit results were primarily for internal records and compliance checks by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD).

Now: The government will publicly disclose key technical data and performance metrics from the energy audit reports.

Why it matters: This is a major shift towards market transparency. It allows for public benchmarking and will quickly separate high-performing, efficient assets from laggards, potentially impacting asset value, tenant attraction, and brand reputation.

Coming Soon: Our deep dive will cover what data will be made public and how this new era of transparency will reshape the property market.

4. "Real-Time Monitoring" for New Systems

Before: The Building Energy Code (BEC) set baseline efficiency standards for new builds and retrofits.

Now: The new BEC (2024), which works in tandem with the ordinance, specifies that new builds and major retrofits must include real-time monitoring capabilities for certain large-scale systems.

Why it matters: This signals a clear move away from periodic checks and toward continuous performance management. While the law currently focuses on central systems, this improved infrastructure lays the groundwork for better landlord-tenant data sharing in the future.

Coming Soon: We will explore these new technical requirements and the role of PropTech, like Portfolio One by Vision Zero Connect, in achieving and maintaining compliance.

5. New Standards for Energy Assessors

Before: The law relied on the existing qualifications for Registered Energy Assessors (REAs).

Now: The ordinance introduces updated and more stringent qualifications for REAs.

Why it matters: This ensures that the professionals conducting these more frequent and complex audits are fully equipped to identify and validate energy-saving opportunities.

Coming Soon: Our final post in the series will cover what this means for building owners and how to ensure you are engaging a qualified professional.