Obstacles to green building project financing: an empirical study in Ghana

This study examines the perception of professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry regarding the obstacles to green building project financing. Following an extensive critical comparative review of literature resulting in the identification of ten potential obstacles, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 520 construction industry professionals. Data obtained from the survey were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings from the study revealed that split incentives, risk related barriers, capital expenditure, lack of incentives, and initial capital cost are the key obstacles that hinder green building project financing. The findings further revealed significant differences in the views of the professionals regarding four obstacles to green building project financing. From the discussion, it was realized that for some of the identified obstacles, the differences resulted from the fact that the different professionals have different interests in green building projects, and those interests depict the kind of risks they are exposed to. The value of this paper is to help built environment professionals to understand these obstacles and find a better way of turning these challenges into opportunities for the construction industry.