From Global Standards to Local Realities: Assessing the Potential of Green Building Certification Systems for Sustainable Construction in Chad

Green building certification systems such as LEED, BREEAM, EDGE, and WELL have become central instruments for steering the construction sector toward measurable environmental and social performance. Their uptake, however, remains highly uneven across the developing world, and almost nothing is known about their relevance to construction markets in Central Africa. This study examines the applicability of established green building certification frameworks to Chad's construction sector, a market characterized by rapid urbanization, import-dependent materials, and an emerging regulatory environment for sustainability. Combining a narrative and comparative review of certification systems with contextual grounding from a previously reported survey of 79 Chadian architects and engineers (Dagou et al., 2025), the study assesses the environmental, economic, institutional, and social fit of each framework against Chad's specific conditions. The results indicate that the International Finance Corporation's EDGE system, designed explicitly for emerging markets, offers the most immediately viable entry point, while LEED, BREEAM, and WELL remain constrained by cost, assessor availability, and the absence of a national green building code. Regional experience from Tanzania, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and South Africa is used to identify transferable lessons. The paper proposes a phased, contextually adapted framework for green building adoption in Chad, built around institutional groundwork, pilot certification in donor-funded projects, and the eventual development of a locally calibrated rating tool. The findings offer a starting point for policymakers, financiers, and practitioners seeking to align Chad's construction sector with global sustainability standards without importing frameworks that do not fit local realities.