Purpose Review of the green building and BIM development finds that there is an obvious trend of applying BIM in green buildings. However, the following issues still remain unclear: (1) How is the current condition of BIM application in green buildings? What is the main value by involving BIM in green building designing or evaluation? (2) What are the key barriers existing in the promoting of BIM application in green building works? (3) What are the corresponding suggestions that can be raised based on the barrier observation? This study aims to identify effective approaches for promoting green buildings development by the help of BIM through answering the raised 3 research questions.Design/methodology/approach This study used a combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis. On the one hand, the case study method is used in qualitative analysis to explore the value of BIM applied to green buildings; on the other hand, the method of questionnaire survey is used in quantitative analysis to analyze the value and obstacles of BIM applied to green buildings, which obtained consisting of 205 valid questionnaires.Findings Corresponding to the research questions specified above, two sets of findings were discovered: The application value has a positive effect on the application of BIM to green buildings, and the application barrier has a negative effect on the application of BIM to green buildings. BIM can be applied to the design stage of the construction phase. BIM still faces many difficulties in implementing green buildings. The main reason can be attributed to technology, organization, business and environment.Research limitations Some possible limitations related to empirical research 1. At different stages of the project, since only the design and construction phases have been selected for research, to a certain extent, there are certain limitations on the application of BIM to green buildings. 2.The barriers are roughly divided into four aspects: technology, organization, business and environment, but there may be other factors that our research has not considered for the time being.Originality/value This research may be the first attempt to combine BIM with green buildings to explore the value and barriers of BIM in green buildings. Can fully understand the advantages of BIM technology and its obstacles in practical use.Keywords: BIM, Green building, Value, Barriers