International Journal of Engineering and Technology

A Green Building Index (GBI) is a pioneer in a building grading system to promote sustainability and increase awareness upon environmental issue in Malaysia. The GBI was first established by Malaysia Architect Association (PAM) and Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) in February 2009. As a green building contribution on sustainable development and energy efficiency, government has introduced incentives to parties who involve in obtaining Green Building Index Certificate to inculcate green technology. The present paper articulates various categories of incentives introduced by government for construction key players in Malaysia and compare those incentives implies worldwide including countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. The incentives are categories into three; financial incentives, fiscal incentives and structure incentives. In a case of financial incentives the financial grants, loans, fund, vouchers, rebates and etc. attract building developers to adopt green elements and apply for certification in their new building project. Obviously, most developers more engrossed to the incentives which has a direct impact on the project financial cash flow. Fiscal incentive however is a privilege by the government, in term of tax exemption granted to respective green building project. Structural incentives are much common incentives offered by government because it would not require expenditure of fund and not reduce the income of city and county. By comparing few successful model of incentives by several countries, the present research reveals that the structure of incentives for green building in Malaysia should have more focused on structural incentive especially those involves technical support, expedited building permit and Gross Floor Area (GFA) equivalent incentive scheme.