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 Conference
and 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 Water

Resources (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
Singapore’s 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 Council’s current
membership of 76 countries and also to those delegates from
countries currently considering establishing a green building
council 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.

• Singapore’s commitment to a sustainable built environment was

recently recognised by The Aspen Institute. Singapore’s Building and
Construction Authority was awarded the prestigious 2010 Energy and
Environment Award in recognition of its innovation and comprehensive
‘green’ efforts in transforming Singapore’s 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 Singapore’s entry, which could be
reproduced around the globe to tackle large scale energy and
environment issues.”

• This leads me onto my next point. Asia Pacific is the world’s fastest
growing region.

• Already Singapore’s 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 China’s population is

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

• Singapore’s leadership in this region will be critical to ensure that the

rapid 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
December’s 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 don’t 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 Development’s

Cement Sustainability Initiative, which aims to reduce the industry’s
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.

• Let’s 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)

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