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Strengthening Cambodia’s Energy Efficiency Workforce through Enhanced Energy Management Training
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 24 July 2026 – A workshop marking the handover of the enhanced Certified Energy Manager and Auditor Training (CEMAT) curriculum and training facilities was held at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC). The event brought together 42 participants, including representatives from government, academia, development partners, and the wider energy-efficiency community.
During the event, the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) handed over the enhanced energy-management training curriculum developed under the Asia Low Carbon Buildings Transition (ALCBT) Project. Geres also handed over new training facilities established under the Capacity Building for Cambodia’s Energy Efficiency (CapCEE) Project. The curriculum and facilities were transferred to ITC to support the implementation of the CEMAT programme.
Together, the two initiatives strengthen ITC’s institutional capacity through enhanced learning content and practical training infrastructure, supporting the development of qualified energy managers and auditors in Cambodia.
The session opened with remarks from Naing Naing Linn, Head of the Energy Efficiency & Conservation (EE&C) Department at ACE. She emphasised that qualified energy management professionals are essential to achieving sustained energy savings and reducing emissions across the region. She also highlighted ASEAN’s aspirational target of reducing energy intensity by 40% by 2030 and underscored the importance of regional cooperation in strengthening institutional capacity, promoting knowledge exchange, and harmonising energy-management practices among ASEAN Member States (AMS). She noted that the CEMAT programme in Cambodia contributes to these broader regional efforts by supporting workforce development and advancing the region’s shared energy transition goals.
Julie Robles, ALCBT Regional Project Manager, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), underlined the importance of equipping professionals with not only strong theoretical foundations but also practical skills to support the transition to low-carbon buildings in Cambodia. She highlighted that strengthening the capacity of energy managers and auditors is essential to improving building energy performance, accelerating the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, and supporting countries in achieving their climate goals.
Pius Frick, Country Coordinator of the Liechtenstein Development Service (LED), further stressed the value of combining technical assistance, institutional strengthening, and practical training facilities to establish a credible and sustainable national training programme. In his remarks, Dr. Long Bun, Deputy Director of ITC, reaffirmed ITC’s commitment to strengthening technical capacity through practical and competency-based training.
Lastly, the opening session was concluded with remarks from Dr. Chhuon Sambath Ratanak, Director of Cooperation and Energy Efficiency, General Department of Energy, Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), underscored that stronger energy-management capacity is critical to implementing Cambodia’s national energy-efficiency policies, welcoming the enhanced CEMAT programme as an important step towards developing qualified energy professionals in Cambodia.
Presenting the projects’ collective contributions to the CEMAT programme, Léo-Paul Clément, Cambodia Country Representative of Geres, outlined CapCEE’s support for institutional and technical development, training delivery, and the establishment of practical training facilities.
Rizky Aditya Putra, ALCBT Project Manager at ACE, presented the ALCBT Project’s support for strengthening the energy-manager training curriculum and its delivery. This included conducting a curriculum gap analysis and regional benchmarking, as well as delivering a pilot batch of the Energy Manager Training using the enhanced materials to gather feedback for further improvement.
Dr. Kinnaleth Vongchanh, CEMAT Programme Manager at ITC (left), provided an overview of the programme’s development, current training and certification arrangements, participant feedback, and priorities for maintaining a qualified pool of trainers and energy professionals.
Dr. Sarin Chan, Vice Dean of ITC (right), shared lessons learned from energy-manager certification systems across ASEAN Member States, offering regional perspectives to support the continued development of CEMAT in Cambodia.
Prof. Haslenda Hashim, Curriculum Development Team Leader from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), then presented the curriculum-enhancement process. The process covered alignment with national priorities and regional benchmarks, improvements to technical content, stronger integration of ISO 50001, and energy-management practices that support the transition to low-carbon buildings.
Following the presentations, participants joined guided walkthroughs and demonstrations of the newly established air-conditioning and pump, air-compressor, and lighting training facilities. The demonstrations showed how the equipment will support practical measurement, testing, analysis, and hands-on exercises in future CEMAT courses, enabling trainees to connect classroom knowledge with real operating systems. Participants also discussed potential enhancements to the training programme, including the integration of artificial intelligence and the adoption of a more practice-oriented training structure.
The successful handover of the enhanced CEMAT curriculum and upgraded training facilities represents an important milestone in strengthening Cambodia’s institutional capacity for energy efficiency. Through continued collaboration among the government, development partners, academic institutions, and regional organisations, the initiative is expected to support the development of qualified energy managers and auditors while contributing to Cambodia’s transition towards a more energy-efficient, low-carbon future.
As a next step, the ALCBT Project, in collaboration with Geres through the CapCEE Project, will support the delivery of energy-manager training using the enhanced curriculum and upgraded facilities. This will further strengthen Cambodia’s technical workforce and support the long-term sustainability of the capacity-building programme.
About ALCBT
The Asia Low Carbon Buildings Transition (ALCBT) Project is a five-year multi-stakeholder project that seeks to reduce GHG emissions by catalysing nationwide transition towards Low Carbon Buildings in five Asian countries, namely Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
The ALCBT project is being implemented by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is partnership with the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), and HEAT International. This project is supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Government of Germany. Within the Federal Government, the IKI is anchored in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN).
