The First UNEP SBCI-BCA Regional Workshop on Sustainable Building Policies in South-East Asia took place, concurrently with the World Green Building Council International Congress 2010 and the Inaugural Singapore Green Building Council Green Building Conference, on Tuesday 14 September 2010, at the BCA Academy in Singapore. At the workshop, the preliminary drafts of the Quick View on Sustainable Building Policies for the 8 participating South-East Asian countries were tabled.

The programme of the workshop included opening and closing speeches by BCA and UNEP SBCI, a first session with 8 country presentations and a second session with 4 round table dialogues comprising of 2 countries per table. The 8 country presentations included: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The country presentations highlighted the various sustainable building policies in the 4 categories of policy instruments, as well as the sustainable development frameworks, rating systems and best practices. In general, the emphasis on the state of play in the region is on energy efficient building policies.

Most country presentations shared a comprehensive overview of the 4 categories of policy instruments: (1) Voluntary Instruments, (2) Fiscal Instruments, (3) Regulatory Instruments and (4) Market-based Instruments; which UNEP-SBCI referred to as, sticks (regulations), carrots (incentives) and tambourines (educational and awareness activities). Examples of green building rating systems available in the region are: Greenship [Indonesia], Green Building Index [Malaysia], Green Mark [Singapore], BERDE Rating System and the Green Building Index (GBI) [Philippines] and LOTUS VN Green Rating Tool [Vietnam].

The workshop concluded similar challenges and opportunities among SEA countries in developing and implementing sustainable building policies, such as awareness by stakeholders, funding, initial investments, coordination among the different ministries involved, participation of the private sector, collaboration between private and public sector, technical know-how and political will.

The Quick Views, presented by the country representatives, provide very useful insights in understanding how to develop a complete policy package with a mix of all necessary policy tools of regulations, incentives, and awareness and educational activities. In the coming months these Quick Views will be completed into Country Profiles on Sustainable Building Policies and these profiles will become a useful resource for policy makers in the region.

In the First UNEP SBCI-BCA Regional Workshop, the need for regional coordination was also emphasised, especially in setting up regional studies, workshops, seminars and trainings. The regional workshop has established a platform for the sharing of Sustainable Building initiatives amongst the various South-East Asian countries, as well as the exchange of ideas on the promotion and development of sustainable buildings in the region.


The First UNEP SBCI-BCA Regional Workshop 2010

2009
UNEP SBCI Roundtable on Sustainable Buildings and Climate Index
26 - 27 October 2009

During the first Singapore Green Building Week in October 2009, BCA hosted the UNEP SBCI Roundtable on Sustainable Buildings and Climate Index as a new member of the Initiative.  The UNEP SBCI Roundtable on Sustainable Buildings and Climate Index was a two-day meeting held on 26 to 27 October 2009 in Singapore.  The objective of the meeting was to refine and seek endorsement from worldwide stakeholders of the buildings sector on the international reporting framework for building performance.  With a first focus on Energy and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, a Common Carbon Metric, on measuring energy and reporting carbon emissions, was drafted.  UNEP subsequently launched the Common Carbon Metric successfully at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Conference of the Parties 15, held at Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.