Tony Arnel Chair, WGBC Opening Speech Final

8/8/2019 Tony Arnel Chair, WGBC Opening Speech Final

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Tony Arnel speaking notes for WGBC Congress Speech 1, Day 1, 13th

Sept 2010 1

Tony Arnel speeches at World Green Building Council Congress,Singapore, 13th & 14th September 2010

SPEECH 1 Conference Opening Day 1

Speech for Tony Arnel

Chair, World Green Building Council

WGBC International Congress 2010, SGBC Green Building Conferenceand BEX Asia Exhibition Joint Opening Ceremony

Sands Expo and Convention Centre

9.00 am, Monday 13th September 2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and WaterResources (Guest of Honour)

Mr Lee Chuan Seng, President, Singapore Green Building Council

Mr Paul Beh, President Asia Pacific, Reed Exhibitions

Members of the Board of the Singapore Green Building Council

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

I would like to endorse the comments of Mr Lee and Mr Beh in

welcoming you to this landmark event, which has reinforced

Singapores important place in the international green building

spotlight.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the delegates

representing 40 of the World Green Building Councils current

membership of 76 countries and also to those delegates from

countries currently considering establishing a green buildingcouncil and becoming members of our expanding family.


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Congratulations

On behalf of the World Green Building Council, I congratulate the

Singapore Government, the Singapore Green Building Council

and Reed Exhibitions for facilitating this showcase of green building

through the combined WGBC International Congress 2010, the SGBC

conference and the BEX Asia Exhibition 2010.

The WGBC is delighted to have synchronised our annual Congress to

be part of the week-long celebration.

I referred to this as a landmark event - not only for Singapore but for

the region.

Singapore is certainly leading the way in South East Asia. Its own

building industry accounts for more than $20 billion per annum and the

Government has set a target of making sure that 80 per cent of these

buildings are sustainable by 2030. I understand that there is significant

investment, to the tune of almost $300 million to achieve this.

Singapores commitment to a sustainable built environment was

recently recognised by The Aspen Institute. Singapores Building and

Construction Authority was awarded the prestigious 2010 Energy and

Environment Award in recognition of its innovation and comprehensive

green efforts in transforming Singapores built environment. The BCA

is the first government agency outside North America to receive this

prestigious prize. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition.

I have no doubt that the work being done to revise the Green Mark tool,

will raise the bar and set a leading example that the rest of the world

can learn from and share.

I want to read a comment made by Bill Dirks, a Founder and current

chair of the Aspen Institute. He said, We were impressed with how

BCA demonstrated leadership at the national level in this very critical

area of renewable energy standards and green buildings. In our


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evaluation of the government category, we had also considered efforts

from cities in United States, Middle East and Central Europe, but we

saw a clear outstanding example of disruptive innovation, creative and

breakthrough solutions in Singapores entry, which could be

reproduced around the globe to tackle large scale energy andenvironment issues.

This leads me onto my next point. Asia Pacific is the worlds fastest

growing region.

Already Singapores leadership and example is influencing the built

environment in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, China and other parts of Asia.

The importance of this influence is amplified by the magnitude of

construction occurring this region. China alone is constructing 2 billion

square metres of new buildings each year. Between 2000 and 2030,

China is expected to add twice the amount of office space that the US

currently has.

On the domestic front, by 2050, 73 per cent of Chinas population is

expected to line in cities. Today, less than 45 per cent do. Thatequates to moving 371 million people in the next 40 years, based on

Chinas current population figures.

According to the United National Environment Program, UNEP, more

than 80 per cent of the construction in China are categorised as high-

energy buildings.

Singapores leadership in this region will be critical to ensure that therapid expansion of the built environment in Asia has a minimal

long-term environmental impact.

As Bill Dinks said, Singapore has ideas that can be reproduced around

the world to tackle large scale energy and environment issues.

I know that there are many other countries that are also in a position to

share their great work and ideas.


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This approach will be even more critical in the future. Collaboration

very much in line with the WGBC model, which works with,

connects and strengthens, green building councils around the

world as they transform their built environment.

Important role for sustainable buildings

One of the if not the greatest strengths of the WGBC, is its role

facilitating collaboration between member councils, and the

sharing of knowledge, experience and tools.

The aim is to assist emerging or newly established green building

councils to fast-track their development and in doing so accelerate

the take-up of sustainable building practices within their countries.

Our Council Creation Tool has been particularly successful, as can

be seen by the number of downloads from the WGBC website.

In September 2008 we had 32 country members. In September

2009 we had 57 and as of today, in September 2010, we have 76

country members.

Such growth comes, not only through the work we as the WGBC

do, but importantly, through the collaboration and support between

and from our growing family of green building councils.

I believe that at no time in history has this level of collaboration been so

important.


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The inability of Governments to reach a binding agreement on

emissions targets and define steps towards a sustainable future at last

Decembers Copenhagen Climate Change Conference has

delivered the building industry with the perfect platform to

assume leadership in the low cost abatement arena.

IPCC data shows that aggressive implementation of current technology

and practices could reduce building related emissions by between

40 and 70 per cent, which is far more than originally predicted. We

can only achieve this through international agreement and

collaboration.

This reduction supports similar findings by other bodies, including

the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which has said

that no other sector has such a high potential for drastic emission

reductions as building.

So the challenge and the opportunity are there before us.

I can assure you the WGBC is steadfast in its determination to see the

building sector as the key catalyst for change. I believe that we are

ready to accept the challenge.

If you look at our history and what we have achieved in such a short

time, at the talent and enthusiasm that we have built up around the

world, you dont need to be a visionary to see what we can achieve in

the future.

An important part of achieving this potential is the development of a

universally-accepted framework within which we can all work.

Green Building Sectoral Agreement

During this Congress we will discuss this framework in the form of a

Green Building Sectoral Agreement.

A paper on a Sectoral Agreement has been prepared by the WGBC

and this will be a centrepiece for discussion at our Congress. While


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it is important to focus some of the discussion on the agreement itself, I

think that we need to dedicate time to talking about the potential that

such an agreement offers the industry.

The purpose of a Sectoral Agreement is to establish a clear and

compelling case and framework for tackling greenhouse gas

emissions for the building sector. To be effective we need the support

of industry, followed by governments and other stakeholders.

Sectoral Agreements can be powerful vehicles for policymakers to

focus on critical sectors where greenhouse gas emission trends can

be forecast, policies implemented effectively and the benefits of

capacity building are clear.

There are historical examples of Sectoral Agreements being used as

effective tools to address key issues.

In 1969 the Tanker Owners Voluntary Agreement Concerning Liability

for Oil Pollution was adopted by tanker owners as a means of

promoting compensation for victims of oil pollution.

Another is the World Business Council on Sustainable Developments

Cement Sustainability Initiative, which aims to reduce the industrys

GHG footprint and has resulted in the Cement CO2 Protocol, which

elaborates a methodology for calculating and reporting cement-related

emissions.

The aluminum industry has undertaken a similar initiative focusing on

reducing perfluorocarbon emissions.

International Sectoral Agreements have also worked effectively in

agriculture, textiles and in relation to the workforce and labour.

Lets look at what a Green Building Sectoral Agreement could

mean for us.

For any country with an emissions target, a sectoral agreement is

one way of achieving this target.


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A sectoral agreement will open the way for developed nations to

utilise existing mechanisms, such as the United Nations Clean

Development Mechanism (CDM), to invest in sustainable building in

developing countries.

Too often, the objectives of emissions reduction and third world

development are seen as being in conflict with each other.

Yet sustainable building is one avenue by which they can be aligned

and some exciting opportunities developed.

A key part of the Sectoral Agreement is the Common Carbon Metric,

which is being developed by the WGBC, the Sustainable Building

Alliance (SBA) and UNEP-Sustainable Buildings and Climate

Initiative (UNEP-SBCI).

The Common Carbon Metric will enable key ratings tools of WGBC

members LEED from the United States, BREAMM from the United

Kingdom and Green Star from Australia to be used to measure and

validate emission reductions in a common way.

The WGBC is working with UNEP- Sustainable Buildings and

Climate Initiative and SBA to provide methodologies for governments

to use building performance data to establish baselines that give

them an accurate picture of their building stock.

From this will arise so many research, product development,

benchmarking, information sharing and rating tool opportunities.

They are also opportunities for this work to open the sector to the

international market for Certified Emission Reductions (CER)

Credits or carbon offsets.

Without common metrics to measure and report on building sector

energy performance, it is impossible to accurately compare the

carbon equivalent performance of buildings, let alone do so with

consistency to allow meaningful comparisons or baseline and

target setting for emissions reduction.


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A Sectoral Agreement should reward and encourage the market to

adopt the Common Carbon Metric protocol in its collection methods

and develop disclosure policies that can be aggregated for baseline

monitoring and reporting.

During our time at Congress will explore these critical

opportunities and encourage green building councils to embrace the

Sectoral Agreement and take up the Common Carbon Metric as the

recognised international standard.

I am sure you would all agree that in the current international

structures for tackling climate change, buildings have been largely

overlooked.

The WGBC is determined to shift that paradigm and we believe the

Sectoral Agreement is an essential tool to achieve this shift, provide a

framework within with we can explore and develop exciting new

opportunities and be a tool that countries can use to achieve their

emissions targets and goals.

World Green Building Week & Special WGBC Report

It is a future initiative that will see the world green building movement

continue to effectively change the outcomes of our planet.

We must move forward together, working collaboratively to ensure the

momentum to green building continues to grow in size and

effectiveness.

World Green Building Week, which commences on Monday,

September 20 will be an opportunity to discuss the Sectoral

Agreement in our own countries with the industry and

governments decision makers.

Most GBCs around the world will stage events, and during this week,

WGBC will launch the Tackling Global Climate Change, Meeting

Local Priorities special report.


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This report is an excellent example of the sharing that is occurring. It

captures examples from around the globe of how Green Building

Councils and their countries are meeting the challenges of climate

change.

It highlights how different countries are engaging with green

building through projects that range from A-grade high-rise office

space to affordable and social housing.

Maximise the opportunity

Like this week of conference and exhibition here in Singapore, Green

Building Week will be a global celebration of green building and a

vehicle to broaden community awareness of the benefits of a

sustainable built environment.

I also hope that it will be an accelerant of change. This will only

occur if we all participate and continue our important role as

advocates and ambassadors for a sustainable built environment.

We, better than any, know that buildings, built or renovated

sustainably, can be the difference between a bright future and

potentially no future at all.

I look forward to discussing these issues with you all as we enjoy

Singapore hospitality this week.

Thank you

ENDS

(2150 words = 18 minutes @ 120 words per minute)

Tony Arnel Chair, WGBC Opening Speech Final

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