There is no mandatory form of energy performance certification in Malaysia.

However, there are certain energy efficiency requirements that apply to the construction of buildings in Malaysia. For example, Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 (UBBL), the subsidiary legislation made under the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974, imposes the requirement for new or renovated non-residential buildings with air-conditioned space exceeding 4,000 square meters to comply with the requirements to meet the required overall thermal transfer value and roof transfer thermal value and provide an Energy Management System. UBBL also imposes a maximum thermal transmittance value in relation to the roofs of all buildings (residential and non-residential).

However, not all states in Malaysia adopt the UBBL. Some states have their own Uniform Building By-Laws, which may entail different energy efficiency requirements.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill 2023 (EECA)

The Government of Malaysia is looking to enact a new legislation to regulate the efficient consumption of energy and conservation of energy, to improve and increase energy efficiency and avoid waste of energy. The legislation is currently in the form of a bill known as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill 2023, under consideration in the upper house of Malaysian parliament (House of Senates) before it receives Royal Assent and is gazetted as law. Once the said new legislation is enacted as law, it will impose, among others, the following key duties on certain target groups:

• Any energy consumer who consumes more than the prescribed threshold of 21,600 gigajoules annually is required to implement an energy management system and conduct periodical energy audits
• Office buildings exceeding 8,000 square meters must apply and display the energy intensity label, and ensure that the energy intensity performance of the building complies with the prescribed energy efficiency rating
• Any energy-using product as specified in the guidelines must adhere to energy performance standards to obtain the energy efficiency certificates and labels