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1. Introduction
The interest for green buildings grew rapidly with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, which committed the member states to collectively reduce emissions via various legislation and fiscal restrictions (Al-Badi and Al-Saadi, 2020). The admittance that green buildings are essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030 has boosted more demand for their construction (Soyombo, 2024). Green buildings are primarily concerned with the impact of buildings on the environment. It emphasizes on resource conservation, ecological protection, pollution reduction and long-term environmental performance of a building (Wen et al., 2020). Many countries have executed necessary changes to their building requirements and encourage more buildings that comply with green rating tools (Okwandu et al., 2024).
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region’s hot and arid climate necessitates the need for more green building designs that are responsive to their climate conditions (Osman and Sevinc, 2019). The residential sectors of the GCC countries are among the highest energy consuming in the world and will continue to rise unless green concept is widely adopted in these countries (Ahmed and Asif, 2021). Countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar have taken a leading role in pursuing green buildings, while Oman is still slow in its progress (Al-Jebouri et al., 2017). Al-Badi and Al-Saadi (2020) stated that Oman has poor demand for green buildings due to the lack of motivation to change, poor knowledge of public on green building and the availability of highly subsidized electricity, which have dimmed the urgency for green buildings. Nonetheless, past studies in Oman have highlighted some effects of not incorporating sustainable practices in building construction such as the destruction of flora and fauna, resource depletion, waste issues, air and water pollution (Shammas, 2021; Al-Jebouri et al., 2017), which makes green building is the way forward for better construction industry.
According to Dodge Construction Network (2021), worldwide, only 28% of construction industry professionals are currently involved intensively in green building, with an expectation of an increase to 42% in 2024. This percentage affirmed that majority of construction professionals are not readily equipped with the experience of green buildings and thus would affect the green building construction progress. In Oman, most construction practitioners are still preferred to build conventionally (Safinia