Buildings

Myanmar’s residential sector has consistently accounted for the largest part of the country’s total final energy consumption. Biomass accounts for the vast majority of final energy supply in the building sector (residential and commercial) with electricity and oil providing smaller shares.¹ As such, Myanmar’s population has relatively low access to electricity (66%) and clean cooking (28%).² The government has taken steps towards increasing electricity access, particularly in rural communities, through the on-going National Electrification Plan.³ The goal of this plan is to reach a 100% electrification rate for households by 2030.⁴^,⁵ As stated in the country’s NDC, a significant portion of this electrification will come as the result of mini-grids and solar home systems. Moreover, the NDC has set targets to distribute fuel efficient cookstoves which will result in an estimated 28 MtCO₂e of avoided emissions over the period 2021-2030.⁶

Graph description

Energy mix composition in the buildings sector in consumption (EJ) and shares (%) for the years 2030, 2040 and 2050 based on selected IPCC SR1.5 global least costs pathways.

Methodology
- Downscaling the energy mix in the final energy demand sectors
Data References
- Historical energy consumption : IEA WEB 2021

As is the case with the country’s total emissions, those of the building sector have increased substantially since 2015. Emissions from energy demands in the building sector grew from 6 ktCO₂/yr in 2015 to 1 MtCO₂/yr in 2019, an increase of 246%. This reflects the changes in the energy mix with oil accounting for an increasing share of the sector’s final energy.⁷ This has led to increased emissions intensity from the sector’s energy demands, from 0.01 to 2.97 gCO₂/MJ between 2015 and 2019. Although the government has not set explicit emissions reductions targets for the buildings sector in its NDC, they have set conditional energy efficiency targets, 7.8% and 4% improvements by 2030 from 2012 levels for the residential and commercial sectors respectively.⁸

1.5°C compatible pathways see the building sector rapidly electrifying. Electricity’s share in final energy supply increases from 9% in 2019 to between 34-81% by 2030 and between 81-96% by 2050. Taken together with the increased share of renewables, and consequent decreased emissions intensity, in the power sector, emissions from energy demands in the building sector will fall to 0.52-0.56 MtCO₂/yr by 2050 (a decrease of 62-64% from 2019 levels).

Direct CO₂ emissions only are considered (see power sector for electricity related emissions, hydrogen and heat emissions are not considered here).

Graph description

Direct CO₂ emissions of the buildings sector in selected 1.5°C compatible pathways.

Methodology
- Downscaling power carbon intensity
Data References
- Historical energy consumption : IEA WEB 2021
- Historical energy emissions : IEA GHG emissions from Energy database 2021

Indicator	2019	2030	2040	2050
Direct CO₂ emissions MtCO₂/yr	1	1 to 2	1 to 1	1 to 1
Relative to reference year in %		-34 to 11%	-32 to -28%	-64 to -62%

Indicator	2019	2030	2040	2050
Share of electricity per cent	9	34 to 81	52 to 94	81 to 96
Share of heat per cent	0	0 to 0	1 to 1	0 to 3
Share of hydrogen per cent	0	0 to 3	0 to 12	0 to 10

All values are rounded. Only direct CO₂ emissions are considered (electricity, hydrogen and heat emissions are not considered here; see power sector for emissions from electricity generation). Year of full decarbonisation is based on carbon intenstiy threshold of 5gCO₂/MJ.

The residential sector accounted for, on average, around 80% of total final consumption between 1990 and 2010. In 2019, this dropped to 55% as other sectors, particularly industry and transport, have seen increased consumption. Biomass has historically accounted for 98% of final energy in the buildings sector (average 1990 to 2015). Biomass’ share has fallen since 2015 and was 87% in 2019. See the IEA’s Myanmar country page for further details. ↩
As of 2018. See the IRENA’s country profile. As noted in the country’s 2015 Energy Master Plan, in 2012, rural household lighting accounted for around 0.3% of total household energy consumption while rural cooking accounted for 86%.[^9] ↩
Note that Myanmar’s rural population makes up 70% of the total.[^10] ↩
MOEE. NEP Plan. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy. (2022). ↩
IEA. Myanmar National Electrification Project (NEP). IEA/IRENA Renewables Policies Database. (2017). ↩
Specifically, the government intends to distribute 5.1 million improved fuelwood cook stoves and additionally promote the replacement of wood cook stoves by LPG based cooking technology across 1 million households by 2030. The distribution of improved fuelwood cook stoves is estimated to result in a cumulative emissions reduction of 12.99 MtCO₂e over the period 2021-2030. Of this, 21% will go towards the country’s NDC emission reduction target. The switch to LPG cook-stoves is estimated to result in 14.94 MtCO₂e avoided emissions over the period 2021-2030. ↩
Oil consumption in the building sector grew from 0.09 to 20 PJ/yr between 2015 and 2019. Its share in the sector’s final energy increased from 0.02% to 4% over that period. ↩
This is part of the NDC’s overall conditional energy efficiency target of a 20% improvement from 2012 levels by 2030. ↩

What is Myanmar's pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C?

Myanmar's energy mix in the buildings sector

petajoule per year

Myanmar's buildings sector direct CO₂ emissions (of energy demand)

MtCO₂/yr

1.5°C compatible buildings sector benchmarks

Cookie settings

Statistics

Google