STUDY: WHICH IS THE GREENEST CITY IN ASIA?

If you ask me, Kuala Lumpur might now win this award this year. We still have a long way to go when we compare to cities like Singapore or Tokyo based on the categories to be measured. 

SINGAPORE, June 29 (Bernama) -– Which is the greenest city in Asia? The answer to this question will only be known by the end of this year when the Asian Green City Index is out.

Siemens and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) announced today that they are conducting an environmental performance study on 20 leading Asian cities from 11 countries.

The countries are China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

In a statement released in conjunction with the on-going World Cities Summit here, Siemens said the cities would be compared in terms of their environmental sustainability.

The cities will be assessed in eight environmental categories: energy supply and CO2 emissions, transportation, buildings and land use, water, sanitation, waste, air quality and green governance.

SD is Sexy for an MCA Politician ;)

I've mentioned in one of my previous postings on the increasing use of the SD term by  Malaysians from all walks of life in the 21st century. The article below is an example of how a senior minister talks the SD lingo. 

Kudos to Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha for stressing the importance of SD beyond the green aspect and taking the initative for his ministry to review the Uniform Building By-Laws.  

YB Mr Minister

We know that now you have been assigned to the transport ministry but hopefully we hope your successor will continue in making SD a sexy subject in this country. It is indeed a sexy topic and if you dont believe me; just join this facebook group called Sustainable Development Is Sexy.

 

Many developers yet to go green

Source: btimes.com.my  

Many developers have yet to seriously consider the potential of sustainable development via the use of green technologies, a senior minister said.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, however, noted that several industry players had taken up the green challenge. “Several of the industry’s players are well on their way to creating the first batch of sustainable development in the country,” Kong said. He spoke to reporters after opening “The Green Solutions for Property Development 2010″ conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. It was organised by the Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Human Settlement (EAROPH Malaysia) and the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda). Kong said developers had yet to come to terms with balancing their bottomline with the incremental costs that comes with developing a green project. To promote the use of green technologies in buildings, the ministry is reviewing the Uniform Building By-Laws. “Some green technologies will be considered from the practical aspects to be incorporated into it in order to create a more sustainable living environment for homeowners, their families and the community at large,” he said. Kong said 2009 was a watershed year for green in Malaysia, with the introduction of various initiatives and incentives.

This included the launch in May the Green Building Index (GBI), an accreditation program with specific rating tools to encourage green building development.

The GBI rating tool is seen as a major undertaking as it seeks a good energy-efficient design, indoor environmental quality, site planning and management, materials, resources, water efficiency and innovation.

Stop becoming a "Jaguh Kampung" when it comes to championing SD

A "Jaguh Kampung" or Local Champion is a classic syndrome of Malaysians when we participate in competitions. Apparently we are able to perform exceptionally well in our own country but more often than not, we choked at International stage.

An extreme Jaguh Kampung case is when only Malaysians are the only ones who are good at doing certain peculiar things. It is a well known fact that even BBC reported this record-breaking obsession. 

In the case of SD; most companies, NGOs and government agencies claim to champion in doing something big in areas of green initiatives, corporate social responsibility etc. The reality is that we will still be a jaguh kampung until the outside world recognizes our achievement. 

Part of SD principles is to embrace openness and social justice when disclosing information without fear of being criticized. This approach allows stakeholders to learn the success stories as well as to appreciate any shortcomings. Evidently, we have seen some organisations behave like a true SD global champions. They are able to admit their mistakes, learn and minimize the probability to repeat them. So where can you find such organisations?

Today, we have many independent bodies that give recognition to these organisations. One established example is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). From the website: Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a network-based organization that has pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. 

As of January 2009, more than 1,500 organizations from 60 countries produce "GRI compliant" sustainability reports.From that list, 6 companies are from Malaysia. They are Kulim Berhad, MRCB, PETRONAS, Plus Expressway, Telekom Malaysia and UEM Environment. Malaysia representation is still small in number (0.4 % from total submitted report) but we need to emulate these local SD players that have proven their ability to play at the international level. 

A special mention should be given to PETRONAS, that was once ranked last in a survey of the "World's Most Sustainable and Ethical Companies" conducted among 15 major oil companies by a Spanish-based ethics rating firm. This clearly shows that if you are really serious about SD, you can stop becoming a Jaguh Kampung and seriously join the true Global SD champion league.

TOP 10 in Green Companies does not equate to Top 10 Most Sustainable Companies

The local Klue website last year came up with the Top 10 Greenest Companies in Malaysia. I would really love to know what are the criteria to shortlist the 10 companies. Click here for the full list ->


KLue - Top 10: Green companies with Green initiatives in Malaysia


Congratulations to Digi, Sime Darby, Shell Malaysia, Panasonic Malaysia, YTL Group, MAS, Canon Malaysia, Aeon Co, HP Malaysia and Green Selipar. We hope you will continue to excel in your greening efforts.

At the same time, sdmalaysia would like to reemphasize the point that being green only accounts for 1/3 of the sustainability principles. In this case, Sime Darby is perceived to have failed in the other two dimensions namely profitability and people. 


From the profitability standpoint Sime Darby recently came under spotlight after incurring a whopping RM 1.6 billion (US$489 million) in losses.


The people dimension also shared the same fate. First the former CEO, Ahmad Zubir Murshid and perhaps other employees that will suffer the ripple effect after the announced losses.

Malaysian Contribution in Sustainable Development Literature

I discovered this book titled: Cut Carbon, Grow Profits at Amazon.com. The first editor is Dr Kenny Tang dubbed as "Asia's Al Gore". If you have not heard of Al Gore, please google the movie: An Inconvenient Truth. The other editor is this young talented Malaysian lady by the name of Ms. Ruth Yeoh who is also the Director of Investments at YTL Corporation Bhd. We should be proud to know that Malaysians are also seriously contributing to the SD topic particularly in the literature field. We also need to have more of such talents to document the Malaysian journey in SD.


The price tag for this book on Amazonis USD80/-. I hope I can get a copy here in Malaysia at a discounted price. Next mission is to do a book review and share this in blog !

p.s: hopefully I'll get the book signed by Ruth herself ;)

Sustainable development: the bigger picture (subtitled). Let's learn from others !!

You can find many excellent videos on SD subject in the youtube website. This one is from DEFRA, a government agency in the UK. Please let us know in which area where you think we as Malaysians can really learn from them? I put forward this challenge that we have our own stories to share in the virtual world :)

Malaysia in 2020: Developed or Bankrupt?

Back in 1991, the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir mooted his Vision 2020 for Malaysia to transform to become a Developed Nation by 2020.


Fast forward today, we are left with less than ten years to chart the nation's development and claim our rights to be alongside countries like Japan, Germany, USA and the United Kingdom. However, even Mahathir himself is skeptic with the progress of Malaysia in achieving the 2020 goals. Read Here: STAR NEWS 


At the extreme, the Minister incharge of the Government Transformation Programme, Senator Idris Jala even suggested the possibility that Malaysia will go bankrupt by 2019. Read Here: Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy. , This outcome is definitely the antithesis of sustainability. If this happens, our society will reach a point of collapse, as brilliantly analysed by Jared Diamond in his book: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. 

Did Idris Jala attempt to tell this doom and gloom picture to the general Malaysians with the intent that we start doing things differently? I can't think of any other reasons that made him arrive to that bold statement.The sad truth is, I am as pessimistic as Tun Mahathir on the current state of the country. While we have been presented to us in numerous occasions with well crafted plans and strategies to formulate Malaysia's escape from the middle income trap status, we all know too well that MALAYSIA is still POOR at DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE EXECUTION. 


So where do go on from here? I can only offer 2 simple but effective solutions: 


First, we can stop blaming others when we fail to achieve our goals. This negative habit is very prevalent in our mindset today. Just take the most recent example of the excuses given by our National badminton players when they performed poorly at the last Thomas Cup: Read here . Take responsibility when you know that you have failed to deliver your task. Four Japanese Prime Ministers resigned in the last four years because they have chosen the path of honour and not to shame their country.  There was a sincere reason why Tun Mahathir had the Look East Policy way back in the 80s. 


Secondly, we especially leaders in our community really need to walk the talk and lead by example. When we encourage people to take the public transport, ask ourselves when is the last time we took a bus from our home to the work place. When we fight the cause to improve our education policy, do we send our kids to Sekolah Kebangsaan or the Private / International School? When we cry for our talents abroad to come back and serve the nation, how much do we pay foreign companies to do things our locals can do at fraction of the cost?


In the name of ensuring SD for Malaysia, it is not too late to change our behavior. For a start, why not apply the two solutions that I have proposed above?