Urban development rapidly increases the total area and the energy consumption of large commercial buildings. Accordingly, the total energy consumption is the focus of numerous energy saving studies. An optimal benchmarking system provides a recommended energy consumption level for each building as well as identifying and prioritizing challenges to energy saving in each building. Based on detailed submetering system data and building operational data, this paper presents a simplified energy consumption benchmarking method for air-conditioning systems that cool large commercial buildings. Firstly, a multi-level benchmarking index system is established. Next, the energy performance data of eight large shopping centers in China validates the simplified benchmarking method and finally, the energy performance data of the participating shopping centers is analyzed under the present method. Our data focus on the energy saving potential, as well as informing improvement strategies for building energy performance, that can be used for efficient energy benchmarking process for cooling in large-scale commercial buildings. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.