Page 5 - ANZ Ideas Competition 2021 E-book

FOREWORD FROM WORLDGBC September 2022 ADVANCING NET ZERO IDEAS COMPETITION 2021 E-BOOK Ms Tanya COX Former WorldGBC Chair and Chair of the Jury Panel of the Competition Over the past 20 years, World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has been accelerating the uptake of sustainable built environments across the globe to tackle the climate crisis. This work has been spearheaded by the efforts of Green Building Councils (GBCs) around the world and their wider networks. In order to achieve the Paris Agreement goals and remain within 1.5 degrees of warming, we must halve emissions from the built environment by 2030 and scale up solutions — many of which already exist — to achieve total sector decarbonisation by 2050. We are now starting to see mainstream actors accounting for whole life carbon in their decarbonisation strategies, which demonstrates that the sector is working to address its impact. Hong Kong Green Building Council’s (HKGBC) Advancing Net Zero Ideas Competition is aiming to tackle the climate emergency and achieve net zero, healthy, equitable and resilient buildings through the latest innovations and ideas. WorldGBC champions this initiative which builds on the strength and knowledge of local Green Building Councils collectively to enhance the power of our global network, generating diverse solutions to tackle the complexity of decarbonising the building and construction sector. The ideas presented this year have seen the integration of various smart technologies, such as AI based adaptive systems to improve energy efficiency, as well as systems that transfer excess renewable energy to adjacent buildings. And the balance between technological features and nature-based solutions is reflected strongly — from utilising the local climate to achieve carbon positivity, to encouraging people to interact with nature for health and wellbeing benefits and fostering behavioural change to create lasting impact. Crucially, the competition addresses issues across the whole building life cycle, as well as optimising existing buildings for the future. The featured ideas showcase that one building can act as a solution to a range of environmental, health and wellbeing, and social issues in both a local and global context. It not only provides inspirational ideas to industry leaders and professionals, but sends a clear message that through determination and dedication, net zero buildings are possible, now. HKGBC’s Advancing Net Zero Ideas competition illustrates that through a holistic and deeply collaborative approach, we can create decarbonised, healthy, equitable and resilient built environments for everyone, everywhere. 1